The officer was the one to *volunteer* putting the animal out of his misery.
The officer than chose to not do so in a more humane manner.
The victim was the animal, not the officer.
A person who thinks it is better to beat an animal to death rather than deal with *paperwork* is not someone who makes good, conservative judgments.
I would say there’s nothing inherently “cruel” about using a club to dispatch a small animal. One good solid crack on the skull and death should be pretty much instantaneous. We don’t know here, and won’t know, upon which strike the cat died. Could be it was dead on on the first blow. Why the excessive number of hits? I have no idea. That’s worth finding out.
But the mere fact that the officer used his PR-24 or an ASP baton to kill a cat is in no way “cruel”, all by itself.
Several years ago, a cop “put a squirrel out of misery with a bullet”...ricochet killed a five year old child.