St. Paul man accused of hurling, killing kitten

The felony animal-cruelty charge says the neighbor's pet was thrown against a wall during a drunken argument.

By ANTHONY LONETREE, Star Tribune

Last update: May 13, 2008 - 7:39 PM

Six months pregnant and living in an apartment on St. Paul's East Side, the woman occasionally asked her neighbor if she could watch the neighbor's kitten. The neighbor agreed because it made the woman happy.

On Monday, Nilla, the kitten, was there when the woman and her boyfriend, Scott M. Turner, 29, argued. The boyfriend ordered her to return the cat to the neighbor, police spokesman Peter Panos said, and when she refused, he picked it up.

Rather than return it himself, however, as the girlfriend thought he was going to do, Turner is accused of throwing the kitten against a wall, causing its death, according to a felony animal-cruelty charge filed against him Tuesday in Ramsey County District Court.

The girlfriend, in the kitchen when the violence occurred, stepped back to find the kitten "laying against the wall," Panos said, "all busted up," and bleeding from its mouth.

The cat's owner took Nilla to an emergency animal clinic, according to the complaint, but the 23-week-old shorthair had to be euthanized.

Police eventually found Turner outside his mother's house in the 400 block of W. Maryland Avenue. There, he began to kick and punch officers, Panos said, and had to be sprayed with a chemical irritant before being arrested.

Indications were that he had been drinking, Panos said.

Turner, who is expected to make his first court appearance today, has a criminal record that includes convictions for a drug offense and for receiving stolen property and obstructing the legal process. He declined a request for an in-custody interview.

The girlfriend was not injured, Panos said.

Anthony Lonetree • 651-298-1545