Witnesses Put Tail on Driver Tossing Kittens from Truck

LAKELAND | On her way to Walgreens, Denise Pribe didn't expect to see three small kittens being thrown from a truck traveling in front of her on a rural North Lakeland road.

First it was two - one was crushed by the truck's tire, she said, while the second tumbled to the side of the road, shaken. Half a mile farther down Rockridge Road, a third was thrown from the passenger window.

Pribe, along with friend Sean Reynolds, called the police and pursued the white GMC pickup, which deputies say was driven by David Carl Arthur.

Arthur, 67, of 11221 Rockridge Road in Lakeland, was arrested and charged with animal cruelty when sheriff's deputies caught up with him at Tractor Farm Supply store on U.S. 98 North.

"We weren't going to let him go," Pribe said. "We were going to keep following him."

After he was arrested, Arthur was taken to Lakeland Regional Medical Center after complaining of shortness of breath and chest pains. He is facing three counts of animal cruelty, the Sheriff's Office said.

He was expected to be booked into the Polk County Jail after being released from the hospital.

The first two kittens were thrown from the truck near Rockridge Road and Trailswood Path while going about 30 mph. Pribe said it appeared they had been thrown from the driver's side. One of the kittens was immediately run over by Arthur's truck and the second, which has not been found, is thought to have run into a wooded area, reports said.

The third kitten, which was thrown from the passenger window, was tossed near Rockridge Road and Woods Trail, bouncing onto the shoulder of the road. That kitten survived and was taken to Polk County Animal Control, officials said.

The Sheriff's Office said it received a call about 9:44 a.m. Wednesday that kittens were being thrown from a moving vehicle in North Lakeland.

Pribe and Reynolds followed Arthur closely. Pribe said Arthur knew they were tailing him because he sped up and started taking back roads.

The two friends followed Arthur through a series of twists and turns off Socrum Loop Road, until he decided to turn around in the parking lot of a vacant business. That's where Pribe first saw Arthur's face, with a cigar hanging out of his mouth and wearing a dingy hat, she said.

She wanted to yell at him, but Reynolds told her it probably wasn't the best idea while they were on the secluded back road, she said.

They followed him back to U.S. 98 North, where he turned into the supply store. She parked away from the store and called 911 for a second time and waited for deputies to arrive, she said.

"Before we knew it, there were lots of police cars all over the place," she said.

Inside the pickup, deputies found a sign that said "Free Kittens - 1 Mile," the Sheriff's Office said.

Pribe said she overheard Arthur talking to deputies, denying that he threw the kittens from the truck.

The surviving solid black kitten with blue eyes was evaluated and cleared at the county's Animal Control station Wednesday morning, said Donna Wood, a spokeswoman for the Polk County Sheriff's Office. By the end of the day, the kitten had been placed in foster care until the case is finalized.

"It doesn't look like she was seriously injured, but she is a little shook up and very scared," Wood said.

[ Jeremy Maready can be reached at jeremy.maready@theledger.com or 863-802-7592. ]