David Motari

On June 13, 2008, United States Marine David Motari was processed for separation following an investigation into a video that surfaced on YouTube early in March of 2008.The Seattle Times: Monroe Marine expelled for puppy incident (June 12, 2008)

The video shows a soldier throwing a puppy off a cliff. The soldier who made the video, Sgt. Crismarvin Banez Encarnacion, has also been disciplined.

In its first two days of being posted, the video had over 150,000 views on YouTube. The video, due to its graphic portrayal of violence, was taken off the site for violation of its use policy. Since its removal, edited versions of the clip, as well as recreations and spoofs have continued to circulate on the internet.http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/iraq/article3481977.ece

The puppy throwing video sparked outrage among viewers. Three weeks after the incident, the Marines started an investigation as to the legitimacy of the events portrayed in the video, as well as identifying all of those involved. A Bebo blog post attributed to Motari that reads, "I did the dog a favor," and an off-camera observer in the video saying, "that was mean, Motari," seem to attest to his involvement.

The exact posts attributed to Motari from his Bebo profile read, "Usually what happens is we shoot them. I was being "creative" that day and decided to throw the dog instead." and "Don't have to follow nobodies [sic] footsteps, I'm makin my own, fully grown, and this life is my own."

On June 12, 2008, the U.S. Marine Corps released a statement saying that Motari was being "processed for separation" and that he had also received an unspecified "nonjudicial punishment".The Seattle Times: Monroe Marine expelled for puppy incident (June 12, 2008)

Since the video achieved an infamous form of popularity across viral video sites in 2008, many "reactionary" videos made by individuals expressing their outage of the incident have been prevalent on social media sharing sites.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EV-tGBWCuq8

In addition to these recorded reactions and commentary by the general public, other videos related to military personnel terrorizing animals while on assignment have surfaced through similar channels.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kG1HLiTuEg&feature=related