BRISTOL, Conn. -- A former city animal control officer who drowned an injured cat in March was sentenced Thursday to 18 months of probation after pleading guilty to an animal cruelty charge.
Superior Court Judge Joseph Doherty also ordered Norman Fortier Jr. to perform 100 hours of community service and pay a $500 fine as well as court costs. If Fortier violates his probation, he would face up to six months in prison.
Fortier declined to comment when the judge asked him if he wanted to say anything in the courtroom.
Prosecutor Steven Preleski said Fortier deserved to be punished, and added that the drowning may have been a "misguided attempt" to end the animal's suffering. Doherty said that while Fortier may have had good intentions, he violated police department policies by not bringing the cat to a veterinarian.
"You made a judgment that should have been made by someone else," Doherty told Fortier. "It's a very upsetting scenario."
On March 31, several people called Bristol police to report an injured animal that may have been hit by a car. The cat was bleeding and limp when it was found by Fortier.
Police say Fortier put an animal snare around the cat and drowned it in a bucket of water at the city's pound, while an animal control officer from neighboring Plymouth looked on.
Fortier resigned on April 20 shortly before a disciplinary hearing, amid the police investigation.
Fortier cannot work in any job that involves caring for animals, under the terms of his probation.
Let's not forget exactly what happened with this case. Here are the stories that Jackie Majerus and I wrote to break the news of this back in April:
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Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
2 comments:
This is a real shame and an example of politics and whining cry babies at work. I think the punishment is excessive to say the least. There should have been no punishment and he should have been left to perform his duty in what ever capacity he felt was in order.
I'm a cat lover, I have two now and had two others that passed on at very old ages. As a child we always had cats. I love them and feel sorry the the cat involved in this sad story but I understand how cats think and feel and what Mr. Fortier did was the best that could be done, perhaps it should have been done sooner if the situation was grave.
Are animal control officers issued some type of gun for just this situation? I would have preferred a quick shot but if that is not available then the officer has to improvise.
As a tax payer and knowing how government programs and veterinarians are I don't want to see poor injured animals hanging around in pain waiting to be carted off to the vets for a stressful end at inflated prices. If you don't think the cost of euthanasia will be inflated once mandated by goverment law then you've obviously got something to gain from it. It certainly is not in the best interest of the poor injured animal.
Mr. Fortier was hired to do a job and now you want to tell people how to do their job? Keep it up and soon we'll have nothing but do nothing, bumbling useless idiots in all the positions. Somehow that's what I think the government wants...
God help us and God bless Mr. Fortier for putting an end to that poor cats suffering.
We are the big loosers here. We're loosing people that will take responsibility and get things done...
Had he let someone else make the decision they would have agreed to put it down anyway. Does anyone disagree with that? Therefore it is all about a policy violation and they get violated with malice every day by others and nothing happens. At least Fortier did what he thought best. Weird method used, and he needed discipline to correct that but that's it. Everyone runs scared instead, worried about what message they might send. Business as usual and I agree with the first post.
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