Kitty-rescue case involving cop takes sharp turn
WHITBY, Ont. — The case against Beth Richardson, the Ontario police officer accused of discreditable conduct for rescuing a pitiful-looking kitten from a woman on a drug binge, began as an allegation of theft and has fast wound down into a matter of paperwork and police protocols.
Richardson, a constable with Durham Regional Police east of Toronto, was summoned to appear before a disciplinary tribunal Wednesday, a move that riled animal protection advocates.
A dozen or so protesters showed up outside the nondescript office complex in Whitby, where the tribunal was held, with placards that read “compassion is not a crime” and “the job is to protect and that’s what she tried to do.”
It turns out, the tribunal later heard, prosecutors in the case don’t necessarily disagree.
The admission came about after Animal Justice, a national animal rights group, made a move to intervene at the tribunal, looking to block any retribution against Richardson, for fear that it would deter other officers from saving distressed animals in the future.
But after an hour-long meeting with prosecutors on the sidelines of the hearing, Animal Justice backed out, avoiding what was expected to be a full day of legal arguments about whether the advocacy group should be allowed to participate.
Instead, Animal Justice and the prosecution returned to the tribunal with a hastily written joint statement, where prosecutors made clear their issue with Richardson wasn’t her intent to save the cat, but the way she went about it.
“The prosecution’s position is that police officers are required to preserve all life, including animals,” read the statement, which was in itself enough for Animal Rights executive director Camille Labchuk to declare “victory,” reassured the case, regardless of outcome, is no longer at risk of having a chilling effect on other officers around the country. The case, prosecutors clarified, was really about police procedures, alleging Richardson, in fulfilling her duty to the cat, failed to take notes, file a report, inform her supervisors or tell the pet owner.
And since Animal Justice “takes no position with respect to police procedures,” it abandoned its application to intervene.
Richardson’s lawyer Joseph Markson called the joint statement “surprising and even shocking,” accusing the prosecution of changing its position “at the last minute.”
He read aloud the original wording of the charge against Richardson from the official notice ordering her to attend the hearing, which alleged she “removed a kitten from a residence without the owners’ knowledge or consent, thereby committing the offence of discreditable conduct.”
Now, however, the prosecution appeared to be basing its case on what Richardson didn’t do after the fact — fill in the paperwork — rather than the act of taking the cat, Markson said.
The case centres on Tia — a thin, fetid kitten that Richardson found cowering beneath a table while responding to a 911 call at an Oshawa, Ont., home in January.
Richardson was part of a team called there to check on a woman who had reportedly been using drugs for several days.
The hearing will continue Feb. 7.