Clay Kinney appears in a booking photo from December 2023. (Seminole County Sheriff’s Office)
A Florida man with a suspended license was recently arrested for running over a deer on purpose, while recording the attack, so he could post the video on TikTok, authorities say.
In fact, the man allegedly tried to hit five different deer.
Clay Neil Kinney, 27, stands accused of five counts of animal torment, one count each of animal torture, and one moving traffic violation, according to the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office.
According to the sheriff’s office, Kinney was able to post the video in question, and that’s what drew attention to him in the first place. In the footage, the defendant allegedly aims for and hits one deer on the side of the road while driving his blue 2000 Chevrolet Tahoe.
It is unclear when the video in question was recorded or published. On Dec. 28, a detective was investigating the footage and came upon a blue Tahoe that matched the description of the vehicle in the cruel video, an arrest report obtained by Law&Crime says. The detective spotted the vehicle traveling on Lake Harney Road and then turning onto Harney Heights Road in Geneva — a census-designated place that is part of the broader Orlando metropolitan area.
After switching on his blue lights, the detective effectuated a traffic stop on the blue vehicle, according to the arrest report.
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Immediately, Kinney admitted to the detective that he was driving with a suspended license, the sheriff’s office alleges.
“Clay Kinney was advised of his Miranda rights and admitted post-Miranda to intentionally running over the deer with the vehicle he was driving,” the arrest report reads. “During the video Clay Kinney attempted to run over five deer in total however he was only able to hit one deer with his vehicle.”
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It is unknown if the deer that was struck by the Tahoe survived.
The charging document, however, accuses Kinney of intentionally inflicting torture, pain and suffering on the deer that was hit by his vehicle. He is also accused of attempting to mutilate or kill the other five deer. The deer-focused crimes are listed as “conservation” offenses.
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Kinney was briefly detained in the Seminole County Jail. He bonded out after roughly eight hours on $2,000 bail, according to Seminole County court records reviewed by Law&Crime.
The defendant has a lengthy criminal history of relatively minor offenses — mostly vehicle-related — dating back to 2010. But this is not Kinney’s first legal run-in over an animal, or even his first deer-related offense.
In May 2021, he was charged with illegal hunting in a wildlife management area closed to hunters and for allowing a dog to pursue or molest wildlife. He was adjudicated guilty and given six months probation.
In August 2021, he was arrested for illegal taking and possession of deer after he was caught with a fawn in a dog box. He later gave an implausible story about why he had the baby deer in his possession, according to a Sunshine State wildlife agent. For that crime, he was fined a total of $758.
Kinney is slated to appear in court for an arraignment on Jan. 30, 2024.
Law&Crime reached out to the sheriff’s office for additional details and comment on this story but no response was immediately forthcoming as of the time of publication.
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