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Sick: Jealous Man Kills Girlfriend's Cat
By
Jen Chung
Published Apr 13, 2007
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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By
Jen Chung
Published Apr 13, 2007
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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This is a horrible, horrible story: Allegedly jealous over the attention his girlfriend was giving her cat, Joe Petcka brutally beat up and killed an 8 pound cat. And Petcka, former Mets pitching prospect and now an actor, is 205 pounds, and from the looks of these photos, he's a built guy. Which makes us hope that when Petcka goes into the clink, someone 25 times his size messes him up.
Petcka allegedly yelled, "You love that cat more than you love me" during a fight with his girlfriend, a reporter for Sports Illustrated. From the NY Sun:
The alleged crime took place on March 27, [ASPCA Special Agent Joseph] Pentangelo said. On the night of the 26th, Mr. Petcka drank alcohol and got into a fight with his girlfriend, who wasn't identified by the ASPCA. The next day he entered her apartment in downtown Manhattan and attacked the cat, Mr. Pentangelo said. When the woman returned home, she found the cat dead under her nightstand and took him to the Battery Park Animal Hospital, where a veterinarian referred the case to the ASPCA.
A necropsy determined that the cat died from multiple blows and likely was "in extreme pain" for up to an estimated 15 minutes, Mr. Pentangelo said. Norman, who weighed less than 8 pounds, suffered a broken leg, three broken ribs, broken teeth, and a lacerated tongue, and blood was found in his stomach and chest, he said.
Petcka faces up to two years in prison for animal cruelty. What's almost sicker is that Petcka's lawyer claims the cat was the one to blame: "The cat bit him, then any injuries to the cat were in response to being bit."
April is Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Month (we think it should be every month) and here are 10 ways you can fight animal cruelty.
Tagged
alcohol
animal cruelty
animals
battery park
cat
crime
downtown
hospital
love
manhattan
mets
ny sun
photos
special
sports
Sports Illustrated
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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