A Queens man was charged with animal cruelty on Tuesday after prosecutors say he stretched his girlfriend’s cat to death.
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz says that Jalen Gonzalez, 23, of Woodhaven, killed the feline —named Kitty — in January, leaving it partially decapitated, among other injuries.
Prosecutors allege that just after midnight on Jan. 12, Gonzalez was drunk and refused to leave his girlfriend’s apartment.
Gonzalez then grabbed his girlfriend’s leg, but she managed to pull herself away and left the apartment to call a relative for help.
When the woman and an uncle returned, prosecutors say that Gonzalez was seen holding the cat by its neck and was stretching the animal apart.
“This animal endured one of the most gratuitously violent deaths that we have ever seen in the borough of Queens,” said Katz in a statement.
“As alleged, defendant Jalen Gonzalez was upset with his girlfriend and turned his ire on the woman’s pet, named Kitty,” the district attorney continued. “No animal or person should ever suffer this way.”
Prosecutors say that Gonzalez’s shirt was “saturated” with blood, and that blood and vomit were found all over the apartment.
A necropsy revealed that the cat had: a crushed, flattened skull; a fractured jaw and missing teeth; eyes protruding from both sockets; 24 rib fractures; a torn artery in the heart; a shattered pelvis and two fractured legs; and damage to several internal organs.
The necropsy also showed the cat’s head was internally severed from the spine, according to prosecutors.
Gonzalez was charged with aggravated cruelty to animals, criminal mischief, attempted assault and harassment.
If convicted, he could face up to two years in prison.