Florida woman jailed after video of her kicking and choking dog goes viral
A woman has been arrested and jailed after she was filmed kicking and choking her dog near her trailer in Pinellas County, Florida.
Michelle A. Sieber, 26, is facing one count of felony animal cruelty after a man named Vincent Minutello posted a video to Facebook of the woman abusing her dog. The video has received almost 3,000 comments since he posted it on Friday.
Sieber can be seen walking slowly towards her trailer in a parking lot with the dog on a leash before she swiftly kicks the animal in its rib cage. She then shortens the leash and pulls up on it so hard that the dog’s front legs come up off the ground as it gasps for air.
As she begins walking again, the dog can be seen bracing itself before she pulls up even harder on the leash and choking the dog to the point where it can be seen gagging.
Minutello, who filmed the incident from his car, then drives up to Sieber and asks her to stop treating her dog so poorly.
“Hey, can you go a little easy on that dog, please,” Minutello then says to Sieber from his car. “You can’t do what you’re doing.”
Sieber laughs and responds, “Pull on his collar?”
“You are choking him. You are hanging your dog. He is sitting there by his neck and he can’t breathe if you watch him,” says Minutello in response to her question.
“You can have him if you want him,” Sieber then says in the video.
According to an arrest report obtained by ABC’s Tampa Bay affiliate station WFTS, Sieber told police that she was training the dog. Sieber is allegedly transient and lives in her trailer with two dogs.
The dog seen in the video, along with another dog that was not filmed, have been taken into custody by animal control and Sieber has been jailed in lieu of $5,000 bail as she awaits trial.
Minutello has thanked the public for their assistance after he posted the video on Friday.
“Thank you for all the support! For those who would have choose the violent route I understand your frustration. However documenting is key to a habitual offender,” he says before imploring people not to resort to violence. “Please don’t incriminate yourselves with violence. That is a short term reaction to what seems to be a long term problem. With this video hopefully we can put a stop to it.”
