Florida Man Arrested: Faces Torture Charge Over Hitting Deer for TikTok Clip

Florida Man Arrested: According to the local sheriff’s office, a Florida man is accused with torturing and causing suffering to animals after he posted a video of himself striking a deer with his SUV on social media.

According to the arrest report and online court documents, Clay Neil Kinney, 27, of Geneva, Florida, is accused of intentionally running over a deer in a video that he posted on TikTok, committing one felony count of animal torture and five misdemeanour counts of animal torment. According to court records, he was also charged with one misdemeanour count of driving while his licence was suspended or revoked.

The Seminole County Sheriff’s Office (SCSO) claims that Kinney posted the video clip on the social media site TikTok. It shows the suspect trying to run over many animals before colliding with one. At the time of publishing, it was unknown how the deer that Kinney was supposed to have struck was doing. Although the exact date of the event and the first TikTok post remain unknown, Seminole County court records indicate Kinney was taken into custody on December 28.

Florida Man Arrested

On Sunday evening, Newsweek emailed the SCSO to get an update on the investigation and for comments. At the time of publishing, Kinney’s attorney was not listed in court documents as someone who could comment on his behalf.

As part of an investigation into Kinney’s TikTok video, a SCSO detective was cruising the area around Lake Harney Road in Geneva on December 28 when he noticed Kinney driving a blue 2000 Chevy Tahoe along Harney Heights Road.

According to the arrest report, Kinney reportedly told the detective that his licence had been suspended after admitting to driving without a licence after being pulled over.

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Charge Over Hitting Deer

The report claims that after being informed of his Miranda rights, Kinney, then 27 years old, “admitted post-Miranda to intentionally running over the deer with the vehicle he was driving,” when the detective from the SCSO questioned him about the TikTok video in which he was allegedly seen “intentionally using his vehicle to drive over deer.”

The video, which as of Sunday seemed to have been taken down from the site, allegedly showed Kinney trying to drive over five deer in total, but he was only successful in hitting one with his SUV, according to the police complaint.

Along with “tormenting” deer by pursuing them with his car and threatening to drive them over, Kinney was also jailed for animal cruelty “for intentionally inflicting, unnecessary pain and suffering” to an animal.

According to the documents, his court date is set on January 30, 2024.