BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. — A Brevard County woman was arrested and charged with felony animal cruelty after a home surveillance video captured her drowning her pet Chihuahua in a swimming pool in October, according to the sheriff's office.
Erica Black, 32, who was already in jail for aggravated battery with a deadly weapon for allegedly stabbing her roommate, had an additional felony charge and her bond increased after the video reportedly showed Black holding her dog underwater for a few minutes.
Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivy said in a Facebook video, Black is the "most despicable excuse for a human being." He added, "the video that we have of her drowning her little Chihuahua is the most horrific thing I've ever seen in my life."
Black's entire surveillance camera video is not shown in the sheriff's office's Facebook video. However, deputies show the part of the video when Black enters the pool and begins to hold her dog, Sadie, underwater.
According to Ivy, in the surveillance camera video viewers can see is the dog struggling, trying to get its head above water.
Once she drowns the dog, she lets it float in the pool, records it floating in the pool and then slams it on the deck approximately four different times, Ivy continues.
Ivy says Black leaves the dog on the sofa for several days but comes back to go live on social media and holds the dog up to show off.
"She is a despicable human being, she has not only committed an act of animal cruelty but an act against humanity," Ivy says.
Black's other felony charge comes after she was accused of stabbing her roommate with two knives, according to WKMG-TV. Reportedly, during an interview with deputies, Black said she was “thinking of killing him for a while."
The outlet reported, that according to an arrest affidavit, Black told deputies she doesn’t know why she “snapped” that night.
An additional $15,000 was added to Black's $150,000 bond.
