MOSCOW, August 9 (RIA Novosti) – Redefining the term “roadkill,” a policeman in northern Russia shot dead a cat that ran out in front of his car – and now risks spending the next five years behind bars ruminating on his vigilante take on road safety.
Alexei Berezin, 40, managed to stop his car when the cat ran out into the road in the city of Kirov, the Kirov Region branch of the Investigative Committee said on its website Friday.
But then he pulled out an air rifle with a scope and used it to shoot the feline dead in front of its female owner, the report said.
The policeman actually aimed the rifle at the owner as well, but did not shoot and drove away, Rossiiskaya Gazeta daily reported.
The woman roused her relatives and neighbors to track the cat killer, who unsuccessfully tried to buy her off with 100,000 rubles ($3,000) when apprehended in his garage shortly after the incident, the report said.
A criminal investigation was opened, as a result of which the officer was sacked and now faces hooliganism charges – punishable by up to five years in prison – over the incident, which took place in June but was not reported before, investigators said. They added the man claimed to have shot the cat “to make road traffic safer.”
