The Region - News from May 9, 1985

Department of Water and Power meter reader Eric B. DeGruy was found not guilty by a San Fernando Municipal Court jury of cruelty to an animal in the death of a dog he killed with a meter reading tool last July in Sunland. DeGruy, 27, was charged with malicious cruelty to the dog, Brandy, a beagle mix, after he threw a metal pry bar that pierced the dog’s skull as she ran at him across her owner’s front yard. “I am happy to a certain extent, but it was a very scary experience that I just don’t think I’m going to get over too quickly,” DeGruy said. “This whole thing is really nothing to smile about, no matter how it turned out.” DeGruy, who has been assigned to office work since the incident, said he has not yet decided whether he wants to return to his meter reading job. At issue was not whether DeGruy killed the dog, but if he meant to harm the animal. “We could find no evidence of malice whatsoever,” juror Hal Goldstein of Granada Hills said.