Bruce J. Bender of Tarpon Springs is accused of having a friend lure a pig into the road so he could hit it with his pickup.
By AARON SHAROCKMAN
Published April 9, 2004
CRYSTAL BEACH - A Tarpon Springs teen who hunts boar with his dad has been accused of running over a pet pig last month.
Pinellas County sheriff's deputies say Bruce J. Bender, 18, was behind the wheel of a pickup truck last month when he asked a friend to lure Tracy Hall's pet pig into the middle of a Crystal Beach street.
There, Bender ran over Sweetpea, deputies say, ripping the skin off the pig's right side, shattering her pelvis and causing other injuries. Sweetpea, a 6-year-old black pot belly, is now recovering from her injuries at home, Hall said.
"The kid didn't realize anyone was going to see him," said Hall, who was walking her Old English sheepdog Phil nearby when Sweetpea was hit. "It was surreal."
Hall, 33, was walking Phil and Sweetpea at about 10:30 p.m. March 17 on a Crystal Beach alley when Bender approached in a dark truck, according to deputies. Bender had three friends in the truck, all Tarpon Springs teenagers.
Bender had one of his passengers, 19-year-old Ryan Coleman, get out of the truck and lure Sweetpea into the middle of the road, deputies said. Bender then ran over the pig with his truck, according to an arrest report.
Hall said she was about 150 feet from the truck. When it stopped, she didn't think much of it.
"People stop all the time to pet her," Hall said. "It was the farthest thing from my mind that they were out to hurt her.
"Sweetpea was four houses ahead of me," she said. "But I didn't worry. It wasn't like she was going anywhere fast."
But as Coleman got Sweetpea in front of the truck, he ran back into the vehicle and Bender hit the gas, Hall said. Bender hit the pig with his front and rear fender, throwing Sweetpea more than 20 feet, Hall said.
"What he did to that pig was disgusting," Hall said.
Since then, Hall has spent more than $3,600 on Sweetpea's medical bills. This week, Sweetpea, a small pig who weighs 55 pounds, was able to stand up and eat for the first time. Sweetpea underwent more than five hours of surgery in a Gainesville hospital to repair her injuries. She has a 41/2-inch titanium rod in her pelvis attached with seven metal screws.
"It was a terrible act of animal cruelty," said Hall's mother-in-law, Barbara Hall. "It was awful."
At Bender's Tarpon Springs home Thursday, his brother, 17-year-old Drew Bender, said Bender wouldn't have purposefully hit the animal.
Drew Bender, who wasn't in the truck, said Bender stopped when he saw a dark pig starting across the road. He then looked out from the truck, didn't see the pig and assumed it had crossed to the other side.
"That's when he started going and then he heard the pig squealing," Drew Bender said. "He didn't see it."
Deputies arrested Bender Wednesday after an investigation involving the Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney's Office, sheriff's officials said. He was charged with one count of animal cruelty, a felony, and was released from the Pinellas County jail Thursday night on his own recognizance.
