NORTH CATASAUQUA, PENNSYLVANIA - After Tom Newhart’s orange ginger cat, Sugar, escaped from the house last month, he frantically searched for her — unsuccessfully — and it was then he called police.
District Attorney John Morganelli said his office is investigating Newhart’s claim that Pursell shot and killed the cat Dec. 6 after she had escaped Newhart’s place of residence.
Repeated calls to the borough’s police department have not been returned and the borough office is referring all calls to solicitor Steven Goudsouzian. He has not returned calls.
Bethlehem attorney Jenna Fliszar, who represents Newhart, said she’s pleased that the district attorney’s office is indeed looking into the matter. She said an online petition asking that Pursell face criminal charges is gaining supporters each and every day.
At the borough’s Jan. 4 borough council meeting, Fliszar said so many people attended that the meeting room doors were locked and others had to be turned away. Fliszar said she and Newhart made comments to the council and then members said they would “cooperate with the district attorney’s investigation,” she said.
“This is a small community where everyone knows each other and for the police department to do absolutely nothing is a disgrace,” Fliszar said. “At a minimum, Officer Pursell should be on desk duty while there’s an ongoing investigation.”
Fliszar sent a letter to the council, police Chief Kim Moyer and Morganelli’s office about the killing of the cat.
According to the letter:
After Sugar slipped out of Newhart’s house, the cat wandered several houses away to the home of a man named Mike Lienert, Newhart’s neighbor. Lienert tried to capture the cat, but was unsuccessful and then called police for help.
Pursell was the responding officer and stated to Lienert, “It may not be politically correct, if it’s wounded, I’m going to have to put it down.”
Pursell made no attempt to capture the cat or call for an animal control officer and simply shot the cat, according to Fliszar’s letter. Lienert said Sugar didn’t appear to be injured and was not acting aggressively, but the cat hissed at Pursell when he tried to poke at Sugar to get her out of a hiding spot beneath an outside grill.
After shooting, Pursell made no attempt to find the cat’s owner and simply tossed the dead cat in a garbage container.
In the meantime, Newhart had been frantically searching for Sugar. When he called the police department’s non-emergency number, he was told that Pursell had shot and killed the animal in question.
Newhart said he then spoke with Moyer, who said Pursell had “made a judgment call” to put down the animal because it was injured.
But, Newhart said, Sugar was examined by a veterinary clinic for cremation and the staff said they found absolutely no injuries on the animal other than the gunshot wound.
“[Sugar] was not a danger to Officer Pursell or the public at large,” the letter states. “There is absolutely no justification for this shooting.”
Fliszar said she also questions Pursell’s choice to fire a weapon within a residential neighborhood where homes are close together. She said the shot could have injured a resident or children outside playing and also noted several people came out of their homes after hearing the gunshot.
“Failure to act in this case sends a signal to the community that they are not safe and that they cannot trust the police department to protect them,” Fliszar’s letter states. “It would tell the public that police are above the law.”