Man charged with animal cruelty after video shows dog being kicked

EAST GOSHEN TOWNSHIP, Pa. (WPVI) -- A man is facing an animal cruelty charge after police received video showing him kicking a dog at the Goshen Valley Apartments in East Goshen Township.

The video was recorded by Alexx Travaglini, who said she heard yelling outside her window and began recording when she saw the man walking his dog.

"I got up and looked out. When I saw it was him walking his dog, I grabbed my phone, and I started recording," Travaglini said.

Travaglini said she had her camera ready because she had seen the man act aggressively toward the dog in the past. She said she did not expect to capture what happened next.

"You can see in the video that the dog cowers on the ground and gets really low to the ground and kind of like pulls away from him on the leash, and then he kicks the dog while it's down. That is, to me as a pet owner and lover of animals, it's very indicative that the dog is used to this kind of behavior," Travaglini said.

The video also caught the attention of Revolution Philadelphia, a nonprofit animal rights organization.

"We were sent this video probably by a dozen people last night. And they were like, 'Can you do something about this?,'" said Tiffany Stair, the organization's co-founder.

Stair said she began working to get police involved after seeing the video. Within hours, police posted on Facebook that the incident was under investigation.

Westtown-East Goshen Regional Police said the man is being charged with animal cruelty. Police said the charge is a summary offense and that they cannot release his identity.

Stair said she saw warning signs in the dog's behavior before the kick.

"He stepped toward the dog, and the dog cowered. So it was very obvious by the dog's body language that he was afraid of this person," Stair said.

She also expressed concern about the dog's welfare.

"Who knows what's happening at that home right now to that dog," Stair said.

The summary offense carries the possibility of fines and jail time.