WARNING: CONTAINS DISTRESSING CONTENT
You might remember Brooke Houts - the YouTuber who 'accidentally' uploaded a video of herself hitting and spitting on her dog.
There was a petition that called for her to be removed from YouTube and a criminal investigation began but that has now been closed after it was determined that 'there was no crime'.
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Confirming that the case has been quashed, a statement from the Los Angeles Police Department, picked up by BuzzFeed News, read: "Animal Task Force looked into the matter - obviously they saw the video the public had seen. They determined it didn't rise to the level of animal cruelty".
The footage of 20-year-old Houts appearing to strike and spit on her Doberman dog, called Sphinx, originally appeared in one of her vlogs.
The initial video was removed from her channel and it was replaced with a version that had those clips edited out, but people had already caught wind.
The video quickly went viral and more than 60,000 people signed a change.org petition calling for her to be banned from YouTube.
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The appeal, which was set up a month ago, is being sent to YouTube as well as the CEO of the company, Susan Wojcicki.
After a quick explanation, accusing Houts of 'hitting the dog, smacking the dog, pinning him to the ground and shouting 'NO!'', the petition reads: "The video was quickly taken down and replaced with the edited version, but many had already seen it by the time she took it down, and the footage can still be found online.
"Houts has since uploaded her attempt at an apology, in which she claims: 'On the day in particular that the video was filmed, and actually this past week, things in my outside life have been less than exceptional.'
"Does having a bad day excuse hitting your dog? How about pinning your dog to the ground and spitting on him? Does anything excuse this? This wasn't a mistake."
In the apology posted on Twitter, Houts said: "The bubbly, happy-go-lucky Brooke that you often see in my videos is typically an accurate representation of me, but it's obvious that I'm playing up my mood in this video when I'm clearly actually frustrated.
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"That being said, this does NOT justify me yelling at my dog in the way that I did, and I'm fully aware of that. Should I have gotten as angry as I did in the video? No. Should I have raised my voice and yelled at him? No. However when my 75lb Doberman is jumping up in my face with his mouth open, I do, as a dog parent, have to show him that this behaviour is unacceptable."
She continued: "I want to make it known, REGARDLESS of what my dog does, I should not have acted that way towards him. I want to clarify that I am NOT a dog abuser or animal abuser in any way, shape of form."
Featured Image Credit: YouTubeTopics: Viral, Dog, News, Animal, US News