By Pamela Lehman
The Morning Call
EASTON, Pa. — Fielding a 911 call about an injured orange tabby cat, North Catasauqua police officer Leighton Pursell arrived to find the animal dragging its hind legs with a trail of blood behind it.
Although Pursell told authorities he pulled out his .38-caliber revolver to “humanely end the cat’s life and suffering,” authorities said Monday the killing crossed the line and cited Pursell with animal cruelty.
Northampton County District Attorney John Morganelli said his investigation showed Pursell did not act maliciously when he shot the cat. But, Morganelli said, the evidence failed to show that the cat was seriously injured and that killing it was the only humanitarian option.
Pursell’s attorney, Gary Asteak, said the decision to cite the officer has serious consequences for his client. Pursell had been offered a full-time police officer’s job at another department, but that was placed on hold pending the outcome of the investigation, Asteak said.
“The decision by the DA sends a message to police officers statewide that it is not their job to deal with feral animals. … That they should tell their municipalities to hire an animal control officer,” Asteak said.
The killing of the cat, named Sugar, prompted an online petition calling for Pursell’s termination signed by more than 100,000 people. It also drew a crowd to a Borough Council meeting that called on authorities to investigate, and deluged investigators with emails, phone calls and letters from animal rights activists.
Tom Newhart, Sugar’s owner, had three other incidents in which his pets escaped without collars, including once by Sugar, according to the district attorney. At a Monday news conference announcing the citation against the officer, Morganelli said Newhart bears some of the blame in his pet’s death.
But Newhart’s attorney, Jenna Fliszar, said her client was like millions of other pet owners who have moments when a cat might make a sudden dash for freedom. Sugar had a collar but wasn’t wearing it because she lived indoors.
Newhart’s goal throughout all of this was to have action taken against Pursell, Fliszar said.
“It’s [Newhart’s] opinion that the officer acted irresponsibly,” Fliszar said. “He’s not somebody that can be trusted to get all the facts before making a decision, and if somebody is going to discharge their firearm without getting all the facts, it begs to question whether or not he should be in the job that he’s in.”
Asteak said his client intends to fight the citation and Pursell acted appropriately after encountering an injured and apparently feral cat that might have posed a danger to the community. Borough officials had received several recent calls about feral cats, authorities said.
“Based upon the fact that it was injured, the officer followed the use of force directives provided him by the police department,” Asteak said.
“My sense is that the prosecution is based more on public sentiment from the ‘Cat Lives Matter’ movement than it is based on the prosecutor’s examination of police practices,” Asteak said.
According To Morganelli’s findings:
After a neighbor called about the injured cat, Pursell arrived in the backyard of a home in the 1100 block of American Street. The cat “showed signs of mange, hair loss and was bleeding from an injury” on its back, Morganelli said.
The cat hissed and clawed at Michael Lienert, a neighbor who had called 911.
At the time, Newhart had not called police about his missing cat and Pursell made the decision to, “in his judgment, humanely end the cat’s life and suffering,” Morganelli said.
Morganelli said his office began investigating after receiving a letter from Fliszar. Authorities conducted interviews with police, neighbors, a veterinarian who examined the cat after its death and Kathy Andrews, a state animal warden.
Andrews told investigators that Northampton County has no services for injured or sick animals and that “essentially ... no one will take [sick cats].” North Catasauqua has no animal control officer and although it does have a kennel for dogs, there is no place to take cats.
Morganelli said the cat killing was a dilemma for his office and he didn’t want to send the message that anyone could kill what appeared to be an injured animal.
“I cannot conclude that [Sugar] should have been summarily killed without more of an effort to isolate the animal and, perhaps, obtain veterinary care,” Morganelli said.
Copyright 2016 The Morning Call