By John Futty
The Columbus Dispatch
COLUMBUS, Ohio — A former Columbus firefighter who was fired for executing his two dogs walked out on his appeal hearing before it began yesterday.
The three-member Civil Service Commission dismissed David Santuomo’s appeal of the firing because he wasn’t present for the hearing. The decision upholds his dismissal from the Fire Division.
Santuomo, 43, was seated and waiting for the hearing to begin but left minutes after WBNS-TV (Channel 10) set up a camera in the commission’s hearing room at 50 W. Gay St. Downtown.
“He came here with the intention of going forward but changed his mind,” said Barbara McGrath, the commission’s executive director.
The commission had agreed to postpone the original hearing in the fall and informed Santuomo that his appeal would be dismissed if he didn’t attend yesterday’s hearing.
Santuomo was prepared to represent himself at the hearing; he had subpoenaed no witnesses, McGrath said. The city subpoenaed five witnesses, including Fire Chief Ned Pettus Jr.
Safety Director Mitchell Brown fired Santuomo in July, acting on a recommendation from Pettus. Santuomo had been convicted in Franklin County Municipal Court on two counts of animal cruelty and one count of possession of a criminal tool.
On Dec. 3, 2008, Santuomo shot the dogs with a rifle in his basement on Essington Drive on the Northwest Side to avoid paying boarding costs for them while he took a cruise with his girlfriend. He taped a 2-liter plastic bottle to the rifle as a makeshift silencer, resulting in the criminal-tool charge.
Santuomo dumped the dogs’ bodies in a trash bin behind his workplace, Fire Station 27 on Smoky Row Road.
He was sentenced to serve 90 days in jail and pay $4,500 to cover the cost of the investigation.
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