The resident, Carol Alleman, called police to report the incident last month and said she remains unhappy that officials decided against pursuing charges against the 6th Ward alderman, who had disposed of the dead raccoon before authorities arrived.
A neighbor, Charles Rush, complained to the City Council on Monday that TenPas was not cited with violating any wildlife or animal abuse law.
"I'm sorry to report that our alderman ... was not licensed to take that upon himself to act in this way," Rush said.
Waukegan Police Cmdr. Joseph Florip confirmed that TenPas does not hold the required state permit to handle wildlife.
"We take animals in this community very seriously," Florip said. "The use of force is always an unpleasant experience."
Alleman called the city's Animal Control department at about 9:20 a.m. Nov. 14 to report that a raccoon appeared disoriented on property along Douglas Court, behind her house, according to the police report. An animal control officer told her that she could not come immediately but would arrive later that morning, Alleman said.
Alleman had planned to watch the animal until the officer arrived and ran inside to change clothes. As she prepared to head back outside, she said, she observed a man from her window who she identified minutes later as TenPas "whaling" on the raccoon.
"I saw him hit it 12 times at least," said Alleman, who remained inside her home while on the phone with police. "The raccoon was suffering. It was trying to get away from him and it wasn't able to. … I was sickened."
She said that she saw TenPas attempt to put the raccoon in a box, but "it was still twitching" so he beat it a few more times.
TenPas, 81, said he took matters into his own hands after receiving a call from another resident.
TenPas, who has been an alderman for more than 40 years, said he believed the raccoon was showing signs of rabies or distemper by its erratic behavior and "I was concerned about the safety of kids in the neighborhood."
"I thought, I can take care of it. I take care of many problems in my ward," he said. "Thinking about it, I could have done it a little differently."
TenPas said the raccoon died quickly, disputing Alleman's description of events.
"One blow. One did it, dear," he initially said. Later, he stated that he hit the animal "maybe two or three times." He put the raccoon in a box and disposed of it, he said.
According to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, raccoons do not generally pose a threat to humans but can be carriers of rabies, which is fatal if not treated quickly. Raccoons, usually nocturnal, also show abnormal behavior when infected with distemper, which can infect domestic cats and dogs.
The department advises on its website that "members of the general public should not handle wildlife. Wild animals can inflict serious injury, and they can be carriers of disease and parasites that are transmittable to humans and domestic animals."
Bob Bluett, wildlife biologist with the state DNR, said getting rid of nuisance wildlife requires a permit.
"We certainly recognize that wildlife can be a problem," he said. "Under these particular circumstances, a person (with a permit) could take a raccoon out of season, although a tire iron is not a recommended method of euthanasia, but could be allowable under the circumstances."
Spotting a raccoon out in the daytime is unusual, but "the last case we had of a raccoon with rabies was 20 to 30 years ago," Bluett said.
More likely, distemper could have caused the raccoon to behave abnormally, experts said. A raccoon with distemper typically is not aggressive, Bluett said.
Distemper would eventually kill the animal, Bluett said. It's not transferable to humans and most pets are inoculated against it. The virus can be transmitted through direct contact with infected animals or their body fluids or feces, according to the agency.
TenPas used a garden hose to clean the raccoon's blood off the sidewalk, Alleman told police. The animal control officer, who arrived at about 10:45 a.m. that day, stated in a police report obtained by Alleman: "I was able to observe several bloody pieces of the raccoon scattered on the sidewalk."
TenPas said he holds the authority to dispose of a sick animal.
"As an alderman, I do have police powers," TenPas said. "It's not like a citizen doing it, but when somebody calls me, I come. I take care of problems. Why do you think I've been alderman for 40 years?"
Mayor Wayne Motley said aldermen are not authorized to take care of nuisance animals.
But Motley added that TenPas told him he felt it was an emergency. Motley said he would not have a problem if a regular citizen did the same thing.
Alleman said that she is afraid of TenPas and believes that he has tried to intimidate her for filing the police report. She said that the day of the incident, he drove slowly by her home and stared at her as she sat on her porch.
TenPas said he had not been aware that anyone saw him kill the raccoon and felt bad about it later, after hearing from police.
"I wanted to go up to the door and apologize," he said. "Then I thought, I might scare her again. I don't intimidate people."
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