Police Officers Run Over Raccoon In Supermarket Parking Lot, Witnesses Say

Police officers in squad cars were captured on video Monday appearing to run over a raccoon until it died at a supermarket parking lot in Ravena, New York, witnesses said.

Officers from the Town of Coeymans Police Department in upstate New York responded to a call about a rabid raccoon. Bryanna Catucci, who captured the moment on video, claimed authorities repeatedly ran over the animal, killing it.

"Leaving the grocery store to find 2 cops charging at a raccoon in a car for 15 minutes until dead:/ you would think if it had rabies they would shoot him instead of torturing. Sad day," Catucci wrote in a Facebook post with the footage.

Catucci said as she walked to her car she noticed a police SUV charging at the injured raccoon. She claimed the officers were intentionally trying to harm the animal, so she pulled out her cell phone and started recording.

"They didn’t think it was unsafe driving 45 miles, running it over, back and forth – in an open parking lot," Catucci told WNYW, an ABC affiliate based in New York. "I don’t want any problems, I just want things to be done right."

Toward the end of the video, police can be seen clipping the raccoon multiple times before it died, one witness said.

"It was devastating to watch. It literally went on for 20-25 minutes," eyewitness Amanda Myers told the news outlet. "They would come back around, kind of nick the raccoon, kind of make it tumble. Finally, I think the one hit near the end finally did a number on the raccoon."

The Town of Coeymans Police Department issued a statement claiming officers handled the situation in the most humane way possible.

"On March 12 we received numerous calls about a rabid raccoon in faith plaza," the statement read. "The raccoon had attempted to get into the establishment at one point. Our officer’s [sic] did find the raccoon, but it was not in an area that was safe to discharge a firearm due to the proximity of pedestrians and residences. They dispatched the raccoon as quickly and humanely as possible."