For the police officer, the man’s body language was the giveaway. His combative stance and his abrupt hand movement hinted at the possibility of danger.A Fort Wayne man accused of kicking a neighbor’s cat so hard he knocked out its tooth was charged Friday with a felony count of animal cruelty.
On Dec. 4, Larry Knox called police to report that a black-and-white cat was in his home. He told a police officer the cat likely came in through the front door, which he had propped open while moving an appliance, court documents said.
Knox, 54, told the officer he kicked the animal in the face “hard,” dislodging one of its teeth. The bleeding cat ran into a bedroom where Knox kicked it a few more times, court documents stated.
A police officer and an animal control officer found the dazed cat behind a mattress. The cat was taken to an animal hospital, and a veterinarian’s examination found that the cat, along with a missing tooth, had a wound on the tip of its tongue and a scrape on its chin, court documents said.
Knox, of the 3400 block of Harvester Avenue, had not yet been arrested Friday.
