Firefighter Who Shot, Dumped Dogs Is Terminated
NBC 4
UPDATE: The city’s public safety director announces his decision to terminate firefighter David Santuomo from the Columbus Division of Fire.
COLUMBUS, Ohio—The city’s public safety director announced his decision Thursday to terminate firefighter David Santuomo from the Columbus Division of Fire.
It’s a story NBC 4 has been reporting on for months.
The Columbus Division of Fire received many complaints and concerns after the conviction of Columbus firefighter David Santuomo.
The division completed its internal investigation, and Fire Chief Ned Pettus recommended termination Thursday, July 9.
Public Safety Director Mitchell J. Brown reviewed Pettus’ recommendation and upheld it Thursday, July 16.
“After careful consideration of the relevant facts in the matter of firefighter David Santuomo, it is my decision to uphold the recommendation of Fire Chief Ned Pettus Jr. and terminate firefighter David Santuomo from the position of firefighter for the City of Columbus, Ohio, Department of Public Safety, Division of Fire,“ Brown said in a statement to the media.
The termination is effective immediately, Department of Public Safety Executive Assistant Antone White said.
Santuomo has 10 days to appeal the decision via civil service, if he chooses, according to White.
Santuomo pleaded guilty to two charges of animal cruelty and one count of possessing criminal tools Wednesday, June 24. All three are misdemeanor charges.
Judge Harlan Hale sentenced the firefighter to 90 days in jail, five years of probation and a five-year ban on having or living with an animal.
Hale said Santuomo would not be allowed to own firearms and was required to get alcohol, drug and mental-health counseling.
Santuomo’s sentence also included writing an apology letter that will appear in International Fire Fighters Magazine and 200 hours of community service.
Local 67 said earlier the misdemeanor crimes were not an issue of job performance.
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Reader Reactions
What if he has a date and a house with occupants is burning, is he going to shoot then or let them burn because he has to get the fire out to go hook up?
No creditability, reliability, no honor, no compassion for living things and a lier to friends, piers, media, etc.
You want to work beside this guy??
that’s an easy one danise1014, we live in a world of no morals or respect for others. We take god and prayer out of everything. People today don’t care about anything or anybody but themselves, people don’t care what they do or who they hurt doing it!
What is this world coming to? People are just plain sick.
Mike you are right and you are wrong. Most employers do check backgrounds but many, especially small, one man owned businesses don’t. Plus who is to say this man would be honest on any job application—-would you if you had done something like this? Not everyone follows the news in Columbus, he can go anywhere in the US and they probably won’t know about him outside the Central Ohio area. Not all people go to shelters to get animals. Some go to those puppy mill shops where they sell those poor animals and all they care about is the $700. they will get out of that animal. Or he could go to a private breeder and get an animal, how many of those do background checks on the people who want to buy an animal or from Zeke who’s dog had puppies and he just wants to get rid of them? The problem of him and animals probably is not solved, many disobey the law. And many times when background checks are done, things don’t show up, that is how so many with crminal records get jobs that deal with the public. Plus if he applies for a job with someone who is not fond of animals who knows what he will tell them “really happened” and that person will hire him? I hope he doesn’t end up on welfare, we are taking care of way too many misfits now. He should have to work to support himself—who would want to support him?
wrong Tinks, First any job he applies for they will do a background check and find this conviction also he will have to put he was terminated as a fireman. Second this story is well known so if he goes to a shelter to adopt a pet or even from a person they will know who he is…he’s screwed, he will end up in the welfare system and will probably stay there
You’re right this man does need help but he probably doesn’t think he needs it. Had he been court ordered or as one condition to keeping his job, he had to get help, he may have. Now he is free to do whatever he wants until he gets caught doing something else. And who is to say this man won’t move elsewhere where he is unknown and will get more animals and start all over again. Had he been able to keep his job with conditions, the citizens may have been a bit safer from one more degenerate. Now he is completely free, after his jail stint to have free roam again.
This sorry excuse for a human being should have done to HIM what he did to those innocent dogs.
If ONLY justice scantioned punishment in kind.
What a disgrace that OHIO has NO felony animal abuse laws.
If anyone deserves a felony on his record it’s this jerk.
I dare anyone of you to read this article and the text messages he sent before and after the killings and tell me this guy isn’t sick and didn’t deserve to be fired. On top of killing the dogs and taking pleasure in it he also threatened a police officer. Read the text messages he sent
http://www.10tv.com/live/content/local/stories/2009/07/16/story_santuomo.html?sid=102
The link between cruelty to animals and cruelty to humans is strong. A quick search took me to:
http://blog.worldvillage.com/family/the_link_between_sociopaths_and_cruelty_to_animals.html
http://cats.suite101.com/article.cfm/animal_cruelty_linked_to_violence_against_people
http://www.hsus.org/acf/cruelty/publiced/cruelty_sexual_abuse.html
I hope he is getting professional help, but sincerely doubt it. He’s probably angry because he doesn’t understand the fuss (he truly looked stupid enough not to ‘get’ why this is wrong). Acutally, he’s probably so angry over being discovered and punished that I would hate to be a famale in his arm-span range. He’s a waste of oxygen, and I hope he dies a long, slow, painful death starting with the knowledge that it’s happening and there is nothing he can do about it. . .kind of like how his dogs felt when he “strung them up on a pipe in his basement.“
This man got exactly what he deserved. I certaintly wouldn’t want this man running on me. Besides the fact the ff’s have their own personal blog where they can speak their mind. If he really cared about his dogs and was somewhat humane he could have very easily posted a blog asking someone if they minded watching his dogs instead he chose to kill them. I realize everyone has their own opinion and based on the comments you can see who cares about animals and who doesn’t. Those dogs didn’t deserve what happened and in my eyes what he did is unjustifiable.
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