Prosecutor: No charges against parents in gorilla shooting
Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters held a news conference this afternoon to discuss his decision not to press charges against the family of a 3-year-old boy who fell into the gorilla exhibit at the Cincinnati Zoo.
Zoo employees were forced to kill a 17-year-old silverback gorilla, Harambe, after the he displayed unpredictable behavior with the child.
Deters said the zoo did the right thing for the child, though he acknowledged Harambe’s death was “a terrible loss for the zoo.”
Widespread calls for the parents’ prosecution began almost immediately after the zoo response team shot Harambe, though Ohio law requires a child to be exposed to “substantial risk” and for the perpetrator to be “reckless” in order for a child endangerment charge to go through.
Gorilla World will soon be reopening with a taller barrier. The zoo says the incident was the first in the 38 year history of the exhibit.
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6/1/16: Harambe’s law: Should parents face jail for shot gorilla?
Everyone who has heard about the death of Harambe the gorilla can agree that the event was a tragic accident, but should his death mean jail time for the responsible parties?
After a change.org petition calling for just that received over 150,000 signatures as of this morning, one Cincinnati lawmaker felt the need to respond.
State Sen. Cecil Thomas is investigating whether or not Ohio needs a law to impose fines or criminal charges on someone who is responsible for the death of an endangered animal due to negligence.
The petition reads, “No one wants to see any harm come to a human visiting the zoo, but this entire tragedy could have been avoided, had this little boy been properly supervised.”
State Sen. Bill Seitz thinks new legislation would be an overreaction.
“Every strange or sad case in life does not warrant a new law,” Sen. Seitz said.
What do you think? Tell us in the comments or on Twitter @614NOW!
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