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Woman says she was assaulted for trying to feed feral cat

Posted at 11:44 PM, May 25, 2018
and last updated 2018-05-26 14:56:33-04

A Las Vegas woman is speaking out after she says she was assaulted while trying to feed a community cat.

Michele Truell says she's been feeding the cats near Pinks and Polaris for 18 years. At one point, there were 60 feral cats. Now she says, there's one left that she named Cindy.

Truell works until 4 a.m. and then goes over to feed Cindy around 4:30 a.m.

"There's a whole community of people who do this," she said.

Truell hasn't been able to feed Cindy in about a week.

"It's been a few days that I haven't been able to go there and put food down."

The reason for that is there are some fairly new businesses in the area with tight security. She had a run-in with one of the security officers in the early hours Monday while trying to feed Cindy.

Cindy says the officer previously told her not to place the food dish on the property because it was trespassing, so she was trying to place the dish on the sidewalk before the confrontation happened.

In the video recorded by Truell, you can hear her phone be knocked out of her hand, and you can hear her cry for help.

"He's screaming at me in my face literally this far away from me, and I'm yelling get away from me, get away from me!"

The woman went to a nearby business to call the police who came to defuse the situation.

But now, Truell can't feed the cat, so she wants to trap the cat and relocate her.

"Let them trap the cat and get her out of there, and then you can never see us again, and you never have to hear about us again!"

13 Action News spoke with the business owner who says he will agree to allow a professional cat trapper to rescue Cindy but the trap must be on the perimeter of the property.