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CAPE CORAL, FL — A dispute over dog poop in a South Florida neighborhood led to the arrest of a woman for battery.
Cape Coral resident Jennifer Hays was given a criminal citation Tuesday after she allegedly hit the phone in her neighbor’s hand as the neighbor recorded her.
The victim, Sara Warnecke, said the issue has been going on for weeks after neighbors noticed piles of poop in their yards that didn’t belong to their dogs.
Warnecke says she witnessed Hays walk a poodle down the street without a leash.
After the poodle relieved itself on Warnecke’s property, Hays kept walking.
Warnecke said she approached Hays, but Hays “told us she did not intend to pick it up. She told us it disappears in a day and it’s fertilizer. I told her that I’d follow her home so that I know where you live and we can report it to code enforcement.”
The situation escalated Tuesday when Warnecke's neighbor witnessed Hays do it again.
Warnecke and the neighbor offered Hays a plastic bag to pick up the poop, but Hays threw it back at them.
At one point, Warnecke began filming Hays, who hit the phone from her hand.
Cape Coral Police charged Hays with simple battery. She received a mandatory notice to appear but was not booked in jail.