 Dog beaten with electric prod and stick
Syracuse, NY (US)Date: Aug 18, 1999
County: Onondaga
Local Map: available
Disposition: Alleged
Alleged: Vincent A. Pace
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A man who calls himself Syracuse's Dr Dolittle is being prosecuted on a charge of beating a dog. SPCA investigator Betsie Puffer accused Vincent Pace, who once had a tiger and lion living in his Eastwood home, of using an electric prod and a stick to hit his white Doberman pinscher after it bit him.
Pace denied Wednesday that he touched the dog with an electric prod. He said he swatted the dog with a stick several times because it had bitten him.
"The dog was corrected for biting me," said Pace, 54 of 204 Hazelhurst Ave.
Meanwhile, former SPCA investigator Mark Austin, who was involved in the investigation of Pace and was fired, says the charge should not have been brought, based on the evidence. "There was nothing wrong with that animal," Austin said. "He was examined from head to toe."
Pace had more than 60 other animals in his home when it was raided in 1995. Neighbors' complaints prompted the city in 1996 to adopt a law that outlaws ownership of certain exotic animals.
This is the first time Pace has been accused of cruelty to an animal, Puffer said.
Cruelly beating an animal is a misdemeanor under state law. Convicted defendants can be sentenced up to one year in jail and fined up to $1,000.
Pace is scheduled to appear in City Court to answer the charge.
The SPCA seized Pace's dog, Peligro, after investigating a complaint lodged against him Aug 18. City Judge Jeffrey Merrill ordered the SPCA to return the dog to Pace today.
Puffer issued an appearance ticket to Pace after an acquaintance of Pace signed a complaint alleging he witnessed Pace beating Peligro.
Eugene Corless, 29, stated that Peligro bit Pace, drawing blood at 3:30 a.m. Aug 18 when Pace attempted to lead the dog out of a room. Corless said Pace responded by repeatedly poking the dog with an electric prod and hitting it wth a 2-foot long stick while the dog was on its back, stuck between a bed and a wall.
Corless told animal cruelty investigators that he told Pace to stop hitting the dog. When he didn't, Corless said he struck Pace with a chair and took the prod and stick from him.
Bob Habberfield, the president of the SPCA's board of directors, said Austin's dismissal had nothing to do with Pace's case. Neighborhood MapFor more information about the Interactive Animal Cruelty Maps, see the map notes.
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