City worker mistakes dog for coyote and kills it with crossbow, Pennsylvania cops say
A Pennsylvania city worker shot his neighbor’s dog with a crossbow, then dumped the carcass in a dumpster, according to police and media reports.
Steven May, 43, was reportedly arrested Wednesday, Dec. 20, following the November incident. May was appointed in December 2020 as the Saxonburg Borough secretary and treasurer.
Butler Township police said the neighbor’s Australian Shepard got loose Nov. 11, according to WPXI. May used a crossbow to shoot the dog on his property when he mistook it as a coyote.
“It’s a mistaken identity,” May’s attorney, Phil DiLucente, told WPXI. “Hunters, every day, shoot at people by accident thinking they’re animals. Now imagine a four-legged creature, no dog tags, no anything, and it looks like a coyote. That is the mistaken identity of a dog.”
May initially lied to his neighbor about what happened, telling the woman he found the lost dog in the dumpster, police said, according to Butler Radio.
But it was May, authorities said, who had disposed of the carcass in the municipal building’s dumpster, according to TribLive.com. Security footage showed him driving to the dumpster, put something inside it, then drive off.
When May confessed to the incident to the Saxonburg police chief, he had offered to pay the family for the loss of their dog, TribLive reported, citing court documents.
May was arrested and charged with aggravated cruelty to animals, criminal mischief, tampering with evidence and damaging personal property, according to court records.
He is due in court Jan. 23.
DiLucente said May “feels horribly” about the incident and he hopes to make it right with the family, WPXI reported.
It’s unclear if the incident will affect May’s job status with Saxonburg Borough, which is about 30 miles northeast of Pittsburgh.
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