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Man charged with throwing kittens out a window at one of city's most troubled addresses
By adamg on Wed, 09/28/2011 - 10:26am
UPDATE: Judge set bail at $750, declined request by Suffolk County DA's office to revoke his bail on the earlier drug charge.
Boston Police report officers responding to a call about a man throwing kittens out a second-floor window at 102 Blue Hill Ave. in Roxbury early this morning found a man witnesses said was throwing kittens out the window.
Police say officers found two kittens and that a city animal inspector said they were OK.
Earlier this year, the man charged with tossing the kittens, Thomas Gonzales, 47, was arrested on drug-distribution charges just hours before Mayor Menino stood in front of 102 Blue Hill Ave. to declare it one of the most troubled properties in the city and the target of a city task force aimed at cleaning up such places. Between May, 2010 and July, 2011, police responded more than 100 times to calls related to the triple decker.
Police say that when officers arrived at the address around 12:30 a.m. today, they found Gonzales hanging out the window:
The male was screaming at his wife and at officers as they arrived on-scene. The female was crying hysterically in the common hallway as she was holding a black kitten. Officer asked the male suspect if he threw a kitten out of the window. Male suspect replied "yeah I threw the (expletive) cats out the window.” Officer asked the suspect to answer the second floor door to which the suspect replied "kick it in, kick it in. ... do what you have to do."
So they busted down the door:
Officers found the suspect in the front bedroom as he took an aggressive posture with both hands up while screaming at the officers. Officers were forced to bring the suspect to the ground and place him in restraints while using minimum force. The suspect did violently struggle with officers.
Gonzales was charged with cruelty to animals and resisting arrest.
Innocent, etc.
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Comments
More details on Action News
More details on Action News at 11.
His defense is that he knew
His defense is that he knew they would land on their feet.
Do cats really...
...land on their feet, or is that an urban legend?
Cat Righting Reflex
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_righting_reflex
If you scroll down, there is a link to a Nat Geo video of cat acrobatics in mid-air.
I'm getting in on the front end of this one...
As I expect the "don't the police have something better to do?" crowd to show up shortly, I thought that I would get out front in saying that it is probably a good thing that the cops showed up when they did, because it sounds to me like the wife was the next thing to go out the window.
Yeah. If not this time, next
Yeah. If not this time, next time.
Animal Cruelty & Domestic Abuse
Are pretty serious, violent crimes.
Sitting on your stoop or porch with a few friends, conversing isn't.
Big differences.
As it turns out, the cops are
As it turns out, the cops are at fault. They should have attached the flying kitten spotter on the same poles as the "shot spotters" in this neighborhood. This crime should have been foreseen. Thank you for seeing this criticism coming.
Yes, literally and figuratively
Even if he weren't about to do something to her right then and there, there's quite the correlation between harming animals and harming people. Animal abuse is a huge red flag for antisocial traits and it needs to be taken much more seriously.
An apt correlation
One recalls the incident of "Castle Neck" Mike.
http://bostonreview.net/BR21.1/ryan.html
Animal abuse
I think about cats I have taken in, and about the dog who lives with me now, and I think about the trust that our domestic animals place in us... and I just can't get inside the head of someone who would abuse that trust. To me it's as though the animal abuser is a different species from me, or, if not a different species, then irretrievably mis-wired in some way.
And so I don't hate animal abusers, any more than I would hate a shark that attacked one of my kids -- it's just what sharks do.
I don't hate them, but at the same time I want the world to be constructed in such a way that I never come in contact with them, and that they are denied the benefits of what civilization has created for the rest of us.
...
...and I just want to have them, and love them, and put them in a basket, and put ribbons them...
What a sicko
What a sicko
Cops Haters
Obviously this situation could have been handled better. The cops should have asked him nicely to put his hands behind his back and come with them.
I do say, this was obviously police misconduct and the police shouldn't have had to use force to get compliance.
Problem Properties Target
This house is the mayor's first target of the problem properties campaign.
http://www.cityofboston.gov/news/Default.aspx?id=5176
http://www.universalhub.com/crime/20110522-shot-he...
Funny ownership history
If anyone wants to play detective: it would be interesting to figure out why this "problem house" sold to a Boston Firefighter/Developer for a hundred bucks on 1/31/2003... who then resold the same day to Edward Franco (the current owner who is in mildly-hot water with the city) but who promptly took out a $925k mortgage that day.
I personally think the suspect should be thrown out a window.
IMHO
Agreed
And then we could see whether he lands on his feet or not.
Big tough guy
If that's the way he treats kittens, I can imagine how he is with kids.
We got one of our cats from a similar incident, though they were never caught.
Wow!
Pretty--and lucky-- kitty. Love himalayans...
A little help with the door?
If someone were to toss a cat of mine out a window, the cops wouldn't need to kick in the door; I'd do it for them, and let them know they needed to rescue the tosser before I had a chance to get at him...
(All gallows humor aside; there does seem to be a strong correlation between violence against animals and against humans. Wouldn't have been long before he started in on the woman.)
Part of the triad of
Part of the triad of sociopathy.
The Merrimac River feline . . .
. . . Rescue Society has lots of kittens up for adoption. Check em out.
Mama Cats need Homes Too!
We got our Fffffiona from FARS, which has now merged with MRFRS. Her six(!) kittens were adopted out a couple months before she picked us out at the adoption center.
Remember that the mama cats need homes, too! Adult cats can be easier to deal with than the kittens, and many are little more than kittens themselves!.
Just adopted . . .
. . . A little guy from there three weeks ago- 6 month old. "Buddy" is quite a bit more active than my first cat who was an adult when I became his owner sorta by default. Little guy is great- but tires me out- never wants to stop playing- gotta throw him a toy every ten seconds.
And dogs don't fly either - even when they want to
One day my dog jumped off the 2nd floor deck. I guessed that she did not realize that dogs, like babies and cats, fall down, not up. She was unharmed and unfazed. I was freaking out. She was also still young. Lesson was to not leave her on the deck without supervision.
On the other hand the raccoons that visited the deck a few years before had no problems with flying off the deck. Apparently my determination to get rid of them outweighed their determination to stay. But I now know that when facing a raccoon - well, it's best to not face them. They are not little bunny rabbits that go hopping away. Rather more like land sharks who have no fear.
But this guy throwing cats out the window? I don't get it. What is so wrong and god awful wretched in the minds of human beings that pleasure is derived from the suffering of innocent creatures.
There are few people on the
There are few people on the planet I find as disgusting as those who are cruel to animals. I think this guy should be tossed out a window and see if he lands on his feet. A very high window, at that.
I'm confused?
I thought if you were pinched while you were out on bail, you're bail is then revoked automatically?
Not Automatic
You get a warning that your bail "may be revoked." It's the judge's call, and it usually depends what the previous and latest cases are all about. Violent and violent, you usually get revoked. Drugs or something, no guarantees. Case like this where the wife's probably getting beat up, you'd think the judge would want him to cool off for a while, though.
We should be celebrating
That some one from that neighborhood watched this happen and thought to call police. This is a neighborhood were "Don't snitch" is the rule. I am just happy we have a base to work with. Today kitten abusers, tomorrow breaking and entering.
With any luck in a year or two, maybe people might see someone get shot and call the police. The reason they have to put those gun sensors on telephone polls is because no one calls the police when someone get shot.
Is it?
When's the last time you've been in that neighborhood?