2 charged for attack on deer

Two Brookville residents accused of repeatedly kicking a wounded deer in the head and pulling off its antler were charged Friday with aggravated cruelty to animals and other offenses.

The Pennsylvania Game Commission filed charges in Jefferson County against Alexander Brock Smith, 18, and a 17-year-old boy for what was described in a criminal complaint as the torture of the buck that the 17-year-old had shot and wounded.

Video of the November attack circulated quickly on social media and generated outrage, along with pressure on investigators to solve the case.

The Game Commission said in the complaint that Smith and the juvenile boy were depicted in the video stomping on and kicking the deer’s throat and legs. The Game Commission said the video also showed the juvenile boy ripping off one of the deer’s antlers, the complaint said.

The juvenile told the Game Commission he was hunting on Smith’s father’s property in Beaver Township, Jefferson County, where he injured the deer with a single shot from a tree stand, the complaint said. Smith wasn’t hunting and was unarmed, the complaint said.

The juvenile and Smith descended from the tree stand after the juvenile shot the deer and approached the animal, according to the complaint. The juvenile said he then tried to fire a killing shot from several yards away, but missed, the complaint said.

The juvenile told officers he and Smith possessed no other live ammunition or a knife in the vicinity, so they tried to kill the deer by kicking and stomping on it, the complaint said. Smith can be heard in the video instructing the juvenile to “take hold of the wounded deer’s antlers,” one of which was broken from the animal’s skull, but still attached by the hide.

The deer appeared to be temporarily paralyzed and was seen on video struggling with each kick, while Smith stood on the animal’s back leg, the Game Commission charged.

The boys both said the deer got up and ran away after the assault, the complaint said.

Game Commission spokesman Travis Lau said the deer couldn’t be located after the incident. Investigators searched the area and used dogs, to no avail, Lau said.

“We did find other deer that had either been shot or road kills that were in there and unrecovered, but we didn’t come up with any evidence that contradicted what they told us, that the deer had run off,” Lau said.

The juvenile said Smith contacted him later that day about the “social media outcry” and instructed the juvenile to delete the videos from his phone, the complaint said.

In an interview in early December, Smith admitted recording the events and sending the video through the Snapchat app on his personal cell phone. Both Smith and the juvenile surrendered their cell phones, as well as the antler taken from the deer that the juvenile had kept, the complaint said.

Both Smith and the juvenile have been charged with two felony counts each of aggravated cruelty to animals-torture and aggravated cruelty to animals-causing serious bodily injury or death, misdemeanor counts of cruelty to animals and tamper with/fabricate physical evidence, summary counts of drive or disturb game and taking/possessing game or wildlife, and more summary counts related to hunting violations.

Smith is facing an additional felony charge of corruption of minors.

Smith was arraigned Friday and released on $50,000 unsecured bail. The juvenile will be prosecuted in juvenile court.

(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)