NAPLES, Fla. — A law professor has shared his take on decision by the Collier County Sheriff's Office to not charge the young man who's accused of reaching into a tiger's cage at the Naples Zoo.
A sheriff's deputy shot and killed the tiger to get it to release it's clenched teeth from his arm.
Randolphe Braccialarghe, who teaches at Shepard Broad Law School at Nova Southeastern University, says the case presented unique challenges.
Below is an edited transcript of our conversation with him.
WFTX: What's your first take when you see how the Sheriff's Office came to its decision (not to charge the young man with the death of the tiger?)
PROFESSOR RANDOLPH BRACCIALARGHE/SHEPARD BROAD COLLEGE OF LAW, NOVA SOUTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY: Well, I think the Sheriff's Office is correct in fact as they said there is no statute exactly on point. Had this been a human being of course it would have been manslaughter. But it wasn't.
(But the professor did tell us it's likely other charges might have been considered.)
PROFESSOR RANDOLPH BRACCIALARGHE/SHEPARD BROAD COLLEGE OF LAW, NOVA SOUTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY: The obvious first one is trespass.
WFTX: He obviously had permission to be in the zoo because he was part of the cleaning crew. But you say it was possible trespassing because he went into an unauthorized area of the zoo?
PROFESSOR RANDOLPH BRACCIALARGHE/SHEPARD BROAD COLLEGE OF LAW, NOVA SOUTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY: Yeah, see now, I say it was trespassing.
PROFESSOR RANDOLPH BRACCIALARGHE/SHEPARD BROAD COLLEGE OF LAW, NOVA SOUTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY: For example, if you're a UPS person, I give you permission to come to my front door, I don't give you permission to go through the bedroom or the closets.
PROFESSOR RANDOLPH BRACCIALARGHE/SHEPARD BROAD COLLEGE OF LAW, NOVA SOUTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY: There's an argument to be made that this fits under Florida's animal cruelty statute.
WFTX: So intention would matter? You'd have to prove his attention would've been to be cruel or even wanted to cause it's death. And it does sound unintentional.
PROFESSOR RANDOLPH BRACCIALARGHE/SHEPARD BROAD COLLEGE OF LAW, NOVA SOUTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY: Yes, and that's - I think you're absolutely right
WFTX: The zoo director, the sheriff's office said, perhaps they can work to help create law that would be able to hold someone accountable in a situation like this. What's your take on that?
PROFESSOR RANDOLPH BRACCIALARGHE/SHEPARD BROAD COLLEGE OF LAW, NOVA SOUTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY: Well of course, the devil is in the details.
PROFESSOR RANDOLPH BRACCIALARGHE/SHEPARD BROAD COLLEGE OF LAW, NOVA SOUTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY: I'm having hard time imagining how to draft such a statute. in a case like this, you cant have a law for every specific one of a million contingencies.
