Police let down 8-year-old boy whose cat was hanged

This is a terribly sad tale of police apathy in the face of obvious cat cruelty and it irks me to read about it. What is particularly upsetting is the cat was loved by 8-year-old Michael Fuentes.

It happened last Sunday. Michael was playing with his friend outside when he saw his beloved cat “TC” hanging by a yellow cord from a fence. He was dead.

Michael’s father, John Kauffman, said TC was a great cat; very friendly with all the kids of the neighborhood. Apparently, the first person to spot TC was a woman in a truck. She stopped and pointed towards TC saying “cat, cat”. Michael and his friend ran over and there was TC.

I will guess that his death was caused by asphyxiation because he was uninjured. There were scratch marks on the fence. Michael’s father left TC as he was found and called the police. They said it was not a crime and an animal control issue. Nice response. A sign of complete apathy and disinterest as there were clear signs of foul play and the commission of a crime.

Mr Kauffman eventually persuaded the police to turn up by:

1. calling a friend who is a police lieutenant who put some pressure on the officer to turn up and;
2. by explaining that there was evidence at the site such as a crack cocaine pipe and a water bottle (what about finger prints?)

And the rope was yellow as mentioned. That must be evidence. The police officer did not take any photos but took the rope and the water bottle. Kauffman says that this evidence was not logged at the police station. The officer had turned up to go through the motions, no more.

We don’t know the end result of this disinterest but we can guess: nothing will happen. It is just a cat after all. Who cares? We damn well care; the public and the Michael the eight-year-old boy, Michael. Why couldn’t they investigate it for him? It would have been good PR if nothing else.

Source: brownsvilleherald.com/news