Arlington man laughed after severely wounding cat with arrow, warrant says
An Arlington man standing on his porch used a crossbow to shoot and seriously wound a black cat on July 31 as the feline walked along the street, Arlington police said Monday.
Tommy Hasting laughed and thought it was funny as the cat limped off with the arrow stuck in him, according to a warrant.
Hasting never tried to render any aid to the wounded cat named Robin after the incident, according to the warrant released by Arlington police on Monday.
But Robin survived after an emergency surgery.
Hasting was arrested Thursday and faces a charge of cruelty to non-livestock animals — torture, a felony offense.
Hasting was taken into custody after investigators interviewed witnesses and neighbors in the 3200 block of West Division Street in Arlington.
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Robin has been adopted by officials at the Arlington Animal Services shelter to assist with the shelter’s animal bullying and cruelty education program.
“Robin has become a member of our shelter family and we are excited about having him,” said Ray Rentschler with Animal Services in a news release.
The arrow had been lodged in the neck region of Robin, and he walked around for hours before he was found on Aug. 1, according to the warrant.
“This disturbing case of torturing an animal will not be tolerated,” said Arlington Interim Police Chief Kevin Kolbye in a Monday news release. “We will put as many resources as needed into animal cruelty investigations to bring justice in these types of cases.”
The warrant written by Arlington Detective Anthony Stafford provided these details on the incident:
On the afternoon of Aug. 1, a resident found Robin with a green and white crossbow arrow through his neck in an Arlington neighborhood. The resident called Animal Services, who immediately rushed the cat to surgery.
Through the investigation, police determined that a resident later identified as Tommy Wayne Hasting, 40, owned a high-powered crossbow.
Animal cruelty investigator Brandi Alcantar talked to a witness who said that Hasting had told him that he was standing on his porch when he shot the cat, and that Hasting was laughing about it because he thought it was funny, according to the warrant.
Authorities also reviewed text messages between the witness and Hasting, who told the witness he couldn’t believe the cat was alive.
Hasting was initially arrested on Aug. 12 on a misdemeanor warrant, and questioned about the injured cat. He denied talking to anyone about the cat and said that he would never shoot a cat, the warrant says.
On that same day, authorities went to Hasting’s home and questioned his wife, who confirmed that her husband owned a crossbow, but she couldn’t find any arrows. When she was shown a photo of the injured cat with the arrow in him, she immediately recognized the arrow as one her husband had possessed in their home, according to the warrant.
This story was originally published August 24, 2020 at 10:44 AM.
