Dog killing outrages town

TAMAQUA (AP) — Patrolman Scott Michalesko thought he was being humane one cold January evening when he fatally shot Whiskers, a 15-year-old schnauzer hit by a car.

Not everyone agrees. The dog’s outraged owner complained, residents questioned the police officer’s judgment, and his superiors began an investigation. A few weeks after Whiskers’ death, the dog was exhumed for an autopsy.

Debate swirled in rural Rush Township, about 70 miles northwest of Philadelphia: Could this dog have been saved?

After a series of disciplinary hearings, township officials concluded that Mr. Michalesko had acted recklessly and fired him. Whiskers’ owner is preparing a lawsuit.

Now the veteran officer is suing to get his $14.42-an-hour job back in a case that his attorney calls “ridiculous” and “bizarre.”

“It was 4 degrees out, the dog was pretty much freezing and wasn’t able to move, and [Mr. Michalesko] just used his best judgment,” said lawyer David Washington.

Whiskers’ owner, Nancy Meiser, thinks otherwise. She points to a necropsy report that showed the dog to be in perfectly good health when Mr. Michalesko shot him. The officer should have tried harder to find the dog’s owner — or at least taken him to an animal hospital, she said.

“I’m still sick over it,” said Miss Meiser, 49, who adopted Whiskers about five years ago.

The incident occurred on Jan. 10, when Whiskers wriggled loose from his chain behind the home Miss Meiser shares with her 84-year-old father.

Mr. Michalesko got a call from a dispatcher that a dog had been hit. He found the animal about 10 feet from the road, lying down and not moving much, he said.

He called in the numbers on the dog’s collar, but a technical error prevented the 911 center from determining the name of the owner.

Mr. Michalesko said he also knocked on a few doors nearby without success and asked 911 dispatchers whether there were any 24-hour animal hospitals in the area, but was told there weren’t any.

Although the schnauzer was not mangled or bleeding, Mr. Michalesko says, he thought the dog’s back or hip was broken.

Mr. Michalesko said he prayed and then shot the dog with one round, petting it as it died, “so it would know there is somebody there with it,” he said.

Residents packed the monthly supervisors’ meeting a few weeks later, demanding answers.

A distraught Miss Meiser said, “What gives this officer the right to take another life?”