By Elisa Black-Taylor
This is an update on the North Ridgeville humane officer who is accused of killing five 8-10 week old kittens on June 10, 2013. This article chronicles events beginning on the day the kittens were killed and ending with the Ohio SPCA threatening a lawsuit against North Ridgeville if five conditions aren’t met.
I apologize for the long read, but this is a very complicated case. The developments are interesting. There is outrage from decent people.
HUMANE OFFICER KILLS 5 KITTENS
Five kittens were shot to death by part time North Ridgeville Humane Officer Barry Accorti after being called to a home where a feral mother cat and her kittens had taken up residence in a woodpile by the residence. The resident of the house felt the kittens were bringing fleas into the home, and was also concerned about dead prey being left outside near where her children played.
The woman who placed the call was under the impression Accorti would capture the kittens and take them to the local shelter where they would either be euthanized or adopted out. To her horror, Accorti shot and killed the kittens after telling her they would “go to heaven.” The woman has stated to several news media that one of her children watched the incident from a window overlooking the woodpile. Luckily the mother cat escaped injury.
NO DISCIPLINE WILL BE TAKEN
On Tuesday, June 11, North Ridgeville Police Chief Mike Freeman made an announcement to the press that no disciplinary action would be taken against Officer Barry Accorti. Freeman stated that since the kittens were killed because of “public health” reasons, Accorti was within the law to kill the kittens.
Freeman downplayed the fact that young children were present at the time of the shooting. The truth of the incident was an officer broke several Ohio Codes when he came onto private property and inhumanely euthanized a litter of kittens in a residential neighborhood in the presence of young children.
Officer Barry Accorti was allowed to remain on the job and continues to work for the city of North Ridgeville, despite community outrage.
NORTH RIDGEVILLE OFFICIALS SPEAK AT PACKED TOWN MEETING
A town meeting was held on June 17, when city officials spoke before a packed house. Dozens of residents, as well as animal rights activists who traveled from as far as Washington, D.C. had the chance to address their concerns to Mayor David Gillock and other council members. Gillock expressed outrage at the threats being made against Accorti, as well as other members of the town.
The Ohio SPCA is at the forefront in an effort to see justice served for the five murdered kittens. Teresa Landon, President of the Ohio SPCA (OSPCA) demanded Accorti be removed from his job immediately. Landon presented Mayor Gillock a petition with 37,000 signatures from those outraged by the killings.
Landon threatened North Ridgeville with a lawsuit against the city if action wasn’t taken immediately. North Ridgeville officials considered the case closed at this point.
LAWYER FOR OHIO SPCA OUTLINES DEMANDS
Attorney John Bell has written a letter to Mayor Gillock, North Ridgeville Police Chief Mike Freeman and the law department. News of this spread like wildfire on June 20, as the Ohio SPCA stated in the letter that they were “ready, willing and able” to move forward with a lawsuit if five conditions aren’t met by June 28. Those conditions are:
Those conditions are:
- Stop shooting cats and firing guns on private property
- Adopt policies that prohibit shooting animals except when absolutely necessary to protect life
- Immediately suspend Accorti without pay or benefits, pending any required hearing on his termination
- Charge Accorti criminally with animal cruelty
- Provide documentation of completion of the first four demands to the Ohio SPCA
The letter also provided the Ohio Codes that Humane Officer Barry Accorti allegedly violated by killing the five kittens and therefore should be charged with. They are:
- 959.131(b) Torture, torment, needlessly mutilate or maim, cruelly beat, poison, needlessly kill, or commit an act of cruelty against the companion animal;
- 959.02 No person shall maliciously, or willfully, and without the consent of the owner, kill or injure a horse, mare, foal, filly, jack, mule, sheep, goat, cow, steer, bull, heifer, ass, ox, swine, dog, cat, or other domestic animal that is the property of another. This section does not apply to a licensed veterinarian acting in an official capacity.
- 2923.162 (2) Subject to division (B)(2) of this section, discharge a firearm on a lawn, park, pleasure ground, orchard, or other ground appurtenant to a schoolhouse, church, or inhabited dwelling, the property of another, or a charitable institution
The letter written by Attorney John Bell can be viewed on this page by scrolling down after the article written by another reporter about OSPCA giving the city warning.
Landon summed up the thoughts of all those who are disgusted with this case by saying in the letter:
“We are a nation of animal lovers and the needless killing of cats will not be tolerated.”
While the OSPCA would like to have handled the matter through education and support for trained individuals, they now say nothing less that meeting the five conditions listed above will be accepted. They want Accorti fired, and they want him charged with all of the laws he’s broken.
Gillock referred questions about the Ohio SPCA’s recent letter to city Law Director Andrew Crites.
“The law director is looking at it, he’ll respond to it.”
SUMMARY
I would like to add that a concerned parent contacted Lorain County Children Services and received a reply stating:
“With respect to this matter, the parameters and criteria of ‘child abuse, neglect and dependency’ are not met which gives us no authority to “‘investigate'”.
So apparently firing a gun in close proximity to a child, who also witnessed the murder of five kittens isn’t considered as any type of child abuse or child endangerment. This is good information to know for future reference.
The Ohio SPCA also claims to have possession of incriminating evidence showing how Accorti has abused his role in the past as an officer. They will use this evidence, should it become necessary.
As of yet, nothing has been decided and Accorti remains on duty. Mayor Gillock admits there need to be changes to the current method of handling feral cats and are open to suggestions.
I’m so glad this crime is being taken seriously now and hope it’s a lesson learned by all the gun happy police who kill animals and think they can get away with it.
Americans have gone up in my estimation because of those people not sitting back but are instead fighting for animal rights.
All police aren’t bad, we are lucky to have good ones in our town, most of who have pets of their own and care about animals and help enforce our pet welfare act.
Karen I agree with you and Michael. I do think video cameras is a good idea. Me and my landlord once got treated very badly by the corrupted city of Toronto people and if we had a video or recording of what they did or said it might well have been game over for them. I now have a recording device on my phone which is easily activated and I can make it record phone calls too. I haven’t needed it yet though which is nice.
I admire tha OSPCA and the people of North Ridgeville. A very good point was made – in truth the people of the US are for the mostpart animal lovers and the ruling institutions and departments clearly are out of touch with this simple fact. It’s impressive to see the reaction and demands and I hope they don’t stop until the officer and his superior are so incredibly sorry they tried to just brush it off to protect their own. You can’t have trust in a system if it doesn’t do it’s job right and when it does wrong with impunity.
I also get the feeling this off/on duty Accorti guy is a piece of sh*t who thinks he is some kind of cowboy. Shooting tiny little creatures saying they will go to god is not only imposing your belief system on other people to defend a cruel act but it also reflects a person who should not have a gun. People should not feel safe with a guy like that around. It’s so wrong in so many ways what he did. We know guys like this work in law enforcement and other animal agencies but what adds insult to injury and makes the whole thing 100 times worse is the boss trying to brush it off. Scandal.
I hate the fact that cops are above the law. I really, really want to see a cop (American or British, I don’t care) behind bars with no bloody pension.
People are sick of it. It is time for change. I always felt too that although there are many animal friendly cops, in general, they are male and not sensitive enough towards animals. Hence the tendency to shoot dogs and in this case kittens.
For me this person is an arch bastard.
I believe that should be Americas next step to protect themselves–put video cameras up to protect their rights. as we know it probably will NOT do any good, it did not help Rodney King, they found those cops not guilty. cops are never guilty, they carry a badge, it is like a get out of trouble free card. once they get it they do no wrong, no matter how much wrong they do.
This has iinfuriated the dog lovers as well since so many dogs have been killed by police in the past few years. The parents of young children are also enranged on this one. Yesterday I covered a case where police shot and killed a dog within feet of a childrens swimming pool party. That one was caught on video.
I soon see families having video camera mounted looking out over their property not to film intruders, but police.
Well, I read the whole lot, top to bottom, word for word and I too am outraged but also inspired by the protestors. There are lots of very good people and animal lovers in the USA. Everyone should love animals, I say.
To me (a cynical person) this is a typical case of people in authority protecting their own and avoiding the law.
There are numerous examples of it in the modern world: bankers, police, politicians etc.
The average person is tired of it and we demand change which is why we are seeing protests in places like Brazil and Turkey etc., and I predict you will see more in the USA and the UK.
The people of the UK are tired of the same abuses of authority.