Police have been caught on camera punching a cat in the head with a baton and kicking it in the street.
The footage was captured by an onlooker at the scene of the incident in the Central Freeway near the Central Business District in Melbourne.
In the footage, the cat appears to be struggling to breathe and is then knocked to the ground by a police officer who is standing nearby.
It is unclear whether the cat was dead or alive.
“You have to take a look at this cat, I want you to see the body of that cat,” one of the officers is heard saying in the video.
A bystander filmed the incident, saying: “It’s a police animal, it’s got a muzzle, its got a tail and its got three claws.”
The video shows the cat kicking the officer’s baton away and falling to the floor.
As the officers are heard arguing with the cat, it is seen kicking the baton towards its neck.
At one point, the animal kicks the batons leg, striking it hard.
Police also have a video of the animal being dragged on the ground.
This is the second time the animal has been dragged.
During the incident the officer was also heard yelling at the cat.
He is heard telling the cat: “You don’t need a licence.
You don’t have a licence.”
“I am not a dog, I am not an animal, I have a job to do.
You are an animal and I am going to get you.
I’m going to kill you,” he is heard yelling in the clip.
But the cat did not seem to react well to being kicked.
An animal welfare officer said the cat had been in police custody since it was seized from the man’s car.
Policeman arrested over cat assault, caught on video, beats cat source News,com.australia source News Corp.au article The cat, which is not identified in the footage because it was being restrained, is being assessed by animal welfare officers.
Victoria Police said the incident occurred after a call came in about a cat being hit and kicked by a male officer.
“(The cat) was hit by the batonet, the batoning, the kick, the force of the batones,” Detective Sergeant Dave Loughan said.
”It did go into the wall.
(The officer) got off the batone, but he was still trying to strike the cat.”
The cat was being held in the Adelaide Animal Welfare Clinic, and it is not known what charge it may face.
However, the footage does not show the officer striking the cat with the batoni.
Topics:police,law-crime-and-justice,police-sieges,domestic-violence,dominant-parties,melbourne-3000,vic source News Corporation Australia title Policeman punches cat in head, kills cat, throws in jail