Alley Cat Allies is asking a Lincoln County judge to restrict Lincolnton and Mayor Mike McCombs from giving animal-control authority to people who are not legally authorized. The group brought its case Oct. 29 in Lincoln County Superior Court, naming the city and McCombs in his role as mayor. Lizzy Long, whom the complaint accuses of shooting Piper, is not a defendant.
The lawsuit says Long had no authorization under state law or city rules to act as an animal-control officer, and alleges the city allowed unauthorized animal-control work to continue. It asks the court to rule that Long was not authorized to perform those duties for Lincolnton or Lincoln County, and to permanently bar the city and McCombs from allowing unauthorized people to carry them out. The requested ban covers taking animals, impounding them, euthanizing them or killing them. The group also seeks court costs.
The complaint says Long told a Georgia Department of Agriculture investigator that she tried to help because there was no animal control in the area. It also quotes body-camera audio in which Long says, “They’ve called me all the time.” Alley Cat Allies presents those statements as evidence of a continuing practice.
The case centers on Piper, who was shot April 17. Tommy Lee, identified in the lawsuit as the cat’s owner, said Piper attacked him after he fell. The complaint offers a different account of the moment Long fired: It alleges Piper was hiding behind a garage and was not attacking anyone.
According to the account of the body-camera footage, McCombs asked Officer Jason Shelton to shoot Piper. Shelton refused and also declined a suggestion that he hand his service gun to Lee. He offered to help get Piper to a veterinarian. When Long arrived with a shotgun, McCombs said, “Lizzy’s right there. She can shoot it,” according to the footage. The video showed Piper did not die immediately after the shot.
The Georgia Department of Agriculture led the criminal investigation, with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation helping the district attorney’s office conduct interviews. The agriculture department obtained an aggravated animal cruelty warrant for Long on May 13, and she was arrested that day. Detention records show she was booked and given a $5,000 property bond.
Records differ on when the warrant was recalled. Court records place the recall the following day, while the lawsuit says Deputy Director Bruce Stanford directed an investigator to recall it on the day it was issued. A state case file cited in the lawsuit says the direction followed “circumstances beyond his control” but does not explain those circumstances.
The agriculture department closed its criminal investigation in June, saying investigators could not establish that the cat’s suffering was intentional, which the agency said was required for the offense. The lawsuit says no criminal charges had been filed against Long or McCombs in connection with the shooting as of its filing. Lincolnton’s ordinance prohibits discharging a firearm within city limits, with an exception for law-enforcement officers acting in the line of duty.
Victoria Sterling
News Now Georgia