Someone posted his contact information and the mayor said he has spent much time this week trying to explain that the incident was not in the city’s jurisdiction and that he is not involved in any capacity.
“It’s irresponsible,” Mayor Clark said. “They are targeting the City of Monroe with inaccurate information. People around the county and world are reading that stuff and it’s just irresponsible.”
Some of the e-mails include the following statements to the mayor:
“You need to know that even in Los Angeles, and undoubtedly all over the world, people know about this despicable decision. You should be ashamed.”
“What Monroe has done to this family makes me so ashamed to be called a Michigander…I will never visit Monroe again and I will be telling all my friends and family about this barbaric act.”
“Will people look at you as the Michigan pet murderer? Be human, not the heartless monster I imagine you to be.”
Mayor Clark said many who responded to the case clearly were misinformed about the events. He said he researched the details of the case so he could properly respond to the vitriolic e-mails and phone calls.
Some people wrote that the girl was a burglar and that she was inside the house when she was merely bitten by one dog. Others had the wrong judge involved and believed the dog’s puppies were euthanized. None was true, according to officials familiar with the case and legal court documents.
The victim in the case, a Jefferson High School junior, was outside the house in the front yard when she was attacked by the four boxers that ran through an open door, court records showed. She told
The Evening News that she was bitten more than 200 times all over her body and had to endure five surgeries. She spent 10 days in the hospital. Many scars, emotionally and physically, are permanent, she said.
Additionally the puppies have not been euthanized. Monroe County Chief Assistant Prosecutor Joseph A. Costello said the puppies have been released to a rescue mission to be adopted.
The dogs’ owner, Tim Iocoangeli, was not home when the attack occurred in April. He said the boxers are not vicious and were simply protecting their litter and property.
He feels the dogs should not be put down.
In addition to the social media, an on-line petition has been circulating in an attempt to save the dogs. More than 7,500 people, including some from Russia, Australia and Venezuela, purportedly signed the petition.
Lawyers fighting to save the dogs have until Tuesday to file legal action if they are attempting to pursue the case.
(Monroe News - Dec 1, 2012)
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