Shocking new bodycam footage shows moment woman with 'fur on her lips' arrested for eating cat in Ohio
Police in Ohio have released grisly footage of the incident which could be at the root of Donald Trumps extraordinary claim that Haitian migrants are killing and eating their neighbors pets.
Police in Ohio have released grisly footage of the incident which could be at the root of Donald Trumps extraordinary claim that Haitian migrants are killing and eating their neighbors pets.
The claim electrified the presidential debate on Tuesday when the GOP candidate platformed rumors that Haitian newcomers in the town of Springfield have been feasting on its domestic animals.
Police have now revealed bodycam video of the only person known to have eaten a cat in the state recently - an American born woman in a town 170 miles away.
Allexis Ferrell, 27, was found with fur on her lips and blood on her hands when police were called by horrified neighbors in the town of Canton on August 16.
Officers were able to determine that Allexis had smashed the cats head with her foot and then began to eat the cat, they wrote in their report.
Allexis Ferrell, 27, was found with fur on her lips and blood on her hands when police were called by horrified neighbors in the Ohio town of Canton on August 16
Ferrell is being held in the Stark County Jail on a charge of cruelty to companion animals, a fifth-degree felony, She has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity
The bizarre footage opens seconds after police arrived to find a female squatting on a cat which appeared to have its head smashed in and the female with her hands on it.
Officers confronted Ferrell and ordered her to put her hands behind her back before one remarked: Someone got rubber gloves? Shes covered in blood.
She makes no response as she is asked her address and read her Miranda rights, before the grossed out officer warns a colleague to put a blanket on the back seat of their squad car.
Smile for me. Go like this, he says as he holds up a camera, Did you eat that cat? Did you eat it?
She bares her teeth for the picture and shakes her head slightly but says nothing.
Why dyou kill it? he demands.
A Springfield resident last month claimed that Haitian migrants were decapitating ducks in public parks and eating them last month
I dont know, she pipes in a small voice.
Get in there. Its ridiculous, he says as he shoves her into the car.
The first claims about pets being eaten over in Springfield were raised at a city commission meeting on July 30.
Furious locals used the forum to voice their feelings about the 15,000 Haitians who have arrived on Temporary Protected Status since 2020.
I really challenge you guys to get out here and do something, one angry resident told the meeting.
These Haitians are running into trash cans, running into buildings, theyre flipping cars in the middle of the streets.
Theyre in the park, grabbing up ducks by their neck, and cutting their head off and walking off with them. Theyre eating them.
One anonymous poster to a Springfield residents Facebook group claimed that her neighbors daughters friend had lost her cat.
One day she came home from work, as soon as she stepped out of her car, looked towards a neighbors house, where Haitians live, and saw her cat hanging from a branch, like youd do a deer for butchering, and they were carving it up to eat, she explained.
Police and city officials in the town have been at pains to insist that there have been no credible reports of any migrants harming any pets.
But the rumors were amplified by Trumps running mate JD Vance before the ex-president himself wielded them in his debate with Kamala Harris.
In Springfield, theyre eating the dogs, he told her. The people that came in. Theyre eating the cats.
Theyre eating -- theyre eating the pets of the people that live there.
And this is whats happening in our country.
Told by ABC moderator David Muir that there had been no credible reports to the authorities, the ex-president insisted that had seen people on television.
The people on television say my dog was taken and used for food, he added.
A spokesperson for Springfield police was among those denying the claims.
In response to recent rumors alleging criminal activity by the immigrant population in our city, we wish to clarify that there have been no credible reports or specific claims of pets being harmed, injured or abused by individuals within the immigrant community, he said on Tuesday.
Officers confronted Ferrell and ordered her to put her hands behind her back before one remarked: Someone got rubber gloves? Shes covered in blood.
Horrified witnesses had called police to a welfare check at the 1100 block of 13th Street South East in Canton shortly before 11pm on August 16
The Vice President dismissed Trumps claims that migrants were eating pets during the debate as unbelievable and extreme
The Canton PD footage continues with an officer turning to a group of onlookers after Ferrell is placed in the squad car.
Did you guys see all this? he inquires.
No we pulled up and she was just laying there with.. one replies.
Did you see her eating it? he asks.
Yeah, says one, It was gross, added another.
She said with the blood on her shoes she stomped it out. She stomped the head out.
Well you dont kill a cat and go to the hospital, you go to jail, the officer remarks.
Social media has been flooded with AI-generated images of Donald Trump protecting animals since his claims in the presidential debate on Tuesday
Will you call the Humane society and see if they will come pick this cat up, he mutters into his radio. Its deceased.
Ferrell is being held in the Stark County Jail on a charge of cruelty to companion animals, a fifth-degree felony.
She graduated from Canton McKinley High School in 2015 and has a lengthy criminal history, with previous charges including cocaine possession, receiving stolen property and endangering children.
The suspect in this case is not a Haitian immigrant, Canton police spokesperson Dennis Garren said. She is a lifelong Canton resident.
Her bond has been set at $100,000 and she is due to face a competency hearing in front of Stark County Common Pleas Judge Frank G. Forchione on October 15.
She has entered a plea of not guilty due to insanity.
