Saturday, December 29, 2012

Woman files lawsuit one year after animal raid at her home

KENTUCKY -- One year ago, 200 animals were seized from deplorable conditions, leaving their owners, a Henry County couple, charged with multiple counts of animal cruelty.

Now, one of the suspects is suing animal control.


 




The lawsuits point the finger back at one animal control officer, basically saying he mishandled the puppy-mill seizure and what happened after the animals were taken.

Terri Smith and her husband, Kenneth Smith, were arrested after the raid. A week after the raid, Kenneth Smith committed suicide.

Since then, Terri Smith pleaded guilty to the animal cruelty charges, and most of her pets were put up for adoption.

A few weeks ago, she filed two lawsuits against animal control Officer dan Flinkfelt and the county.

One is for the wrongful death of her husband, who she claimed was harassed because of the raid.

The other lawsuit claims that animal control sold her animals for less than their worth.

WLKY spoke with Henry County's judge executive, John Brent, who is also named in this lawsuit.

"Do you feel like animal control did anything wrong?" WLKY's Jessica Oh asked Brent.

"Of course not. They did the best they could with a bad situation. We experience various lawsuits, a lot of which we don't think have much merit, and that's the case in this," said Brent.



Also in the lawsuit, Terri Smith claimed she, on multiple occasions, asked the animal control officer for help, but that he never responded until the raid happened.

The county now has 20 days to respond.

(WLKY - Dec 29, 2012)