Pit bull doused with fluid, set afire, stoned in Garfield

Friday, May 31, 2002

By Johnna A. Pro, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

When humane officer Kathleen Hecker learned last week that a stray pit bull terrier had died after having been lashed to a fence, doused with lighter fluid then set on fire, she couldn't sleep.

	Pittsburgh police Officer Christine Luffey escorts Michael Grier, 18, into the East Liberty Police Station yesterday after he was arrested and charged with cruelty to animals, conspiracy and corruption of minors in the case of a stray pit bull terrier that was set on fire. (Robin Rombach, Post-Gazette)

She vowed to find the killer.

Armed with $2,500 in reward money, the help of Pittsburgh Police officers from the West End and East Liberty, and talkative witnesses, Hecker did just that.

Yesterday officers arrested Michael Grier, 18, of Garfield, and charged him with cruelty to animals, conspiracy and corruption of minors.

A 10-year-old boy, a neighbor of Grier's, is being charged as a juvenile with cruelty and conspiracy in the incident that was witnessed by several young people ranging from 10 to 15 years old. His identity was not being released.

"Violent behavior, whether perpetrated against a dog or another human being, is still violence," said Hecker of Animal Friends. "Research proves that violent children often become violent adults. What these kids perpetrated and witnessed will profoundly impact their future behavior.

"There was a lot of talk in school. There was a lot of talk in the neighborhood. People were horrified," Hecker said.

The arrests were the culmination of an investigation by Hecker and Pittsburgh police Officer Christine Luffey, who is assigned to the West End station. Luffey, an animal rights activist, has become the force's point person in such investigations.

The two officers headed to Garfield earlier this week where they learned that Grier's sister, Catrina, 15, had first brought the pit bull home on May 22, some time after returning from school.

The dog was one of two running loose in the neighborhood. The girl managed to get one of the pit bulls on a leash and take it to the family's yard at 5109 Jordan Way.

"She decided to make it her own," Hecker said.

The pit bull, though, which Hecker and Luffey believe was a fighter most likely trained by killing other animals, attacked and killed the girl's cat. Cats and kittens are often used as bait to train pit bulls to fight.

"It probably didn't think it did anything wrong," Luffey said. "Even the dogs that are bred to fight are very nice with people. It's just with other animals that they are vicious. It's what they're taught."

After the cat was killed, Michael Grier came outside, police said, and managed to get the dog on a leash and tied it to a fence on Jordan Way.

The dog was doused with lighter fluid, and its paws were set on fire.

Afterwards, Grier encouraged the 10-year-old to add more lighter fluid, police were told. Once the boy did, Grier lit a napkin and threw it at the dog, setting the animal ablaze, police said.

"The eyewitnesses said the dog was screaming," Luffey said. "It fought so hard, it got itself out of the leash."

The dog ran into nearby bushes, where, witnesses said, rocks and bricks were thrown at it.

City animal control officers who had been called to the scene after receiving a report of an injured dog took the pit bull to the Animal Rescue League in East Liberty, where it died.

"This was a brutal crime. The dog was tortured," Luffey said. "No living creature, be it human or animal, should suffer such a death."