NOTE: THE VIDEO BELOW IS NOT GRAPHIC!
According to the Fulton County Sheriff's Office, Dwanisha Rayneice Hitchens was booked Monday at the Fulton County Jail on a charge of Cruelty to Animals for an incident caught on video just before Christmas.
A resident told officers that her Ring camera captured the small white dog, possibly a Maltese, and its owner in the apartment corridor. Police say the woman took off her tennis shoe and began to violently strike the dog several times. The video was shared so much on social media that it went viral.
"I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I mean, I’ve never seen anything so horrific," said the woman whose Ring doorbell camera captured the disturbing incident.
"Honestly, what the f--- were you thinking? How could you be so cruel to something so innocent?," the woman asked.
So the concerned resident decided she had to do something, along with other members of the community.
"We went down to the apartments and, you know, looked around and, you know, knocked on some doors," she said.
She and the others also helped police track the woman down, posting hundreds of flyers around the complex where she lived. That afford paid off when this week Hitchens was identified, arrested and charged in this case.
The dog seen in the video is being held by Fulton County Animal Services as live evidence pending trial--made possible in part by some grassroots detective work. Fulton County Animal Services says currently the dog is in "fair condition."
"Everyone who witnesses this video has been changed and I think that’s an impact that this woman has had on a lot of people," she said.