Saxonburg Borough Manager Steven May was criminally charged Wednesday with animal cruelty after allegedly taking pictures his neighbor’s canine with a crossbow.
According to May’s legal professional, Phil DiLucente, May thought the canine was a coyote.
“It’s a mistaken identity,” DiLucente mentioned. “Hunters, every day, shoot at people by accident thinking they’re animals. Now imagine a four-legged creature, no dog tags, no anything, and it looks like a coyote. That is the mistaken identity of a dog.”
According to courtroom paperwork, May was charged Wednesday, arraigned and launched.
The incident occurred on Nov. 11 alongside Goldscheitter Road in Buffalo Township, Butler County.
The canine’s proprietor informed police it had gotten free they usually had been in search of it.
According to the felony criticism, three days after the purple merle Australian Shepherd escaped, the proprietor obtained a name from May.
He informed the canine’s proprietor he discovered the canine hit by a automobile and disposed of its physique in a dumpster by the Saxonburg Borough building.
The police report states he later confessed to the household that he shot the canine with a crossbow pondering it was a coyote and provided to pay for a brand new canine.
“He feels horribly because, like all of us, he loves animals,” DiLucente mentioned.
DiLucente additionally mentioned his shopper hopes to make issues proper with the household and get again to serving the Saxonburg neighborhood.
“This is a newer position for him. He takes his job very seriously and it’s unfortunate for someone like him to have to experience this.”
Channel 11 reached out to the Saxonburg Mayor asking if May’s arrest will affect his employment standing with the Borough. So far, Channel 11 has not heard again.
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