State senators from the Pittsburgh area plan to co-sponsor a bill that would stiffen penalties for those who severely injure or kill police animals.
Democrat state Sen. Matt Smith, of Mount Lebanon, says the bill would make it a second-degree felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
The move comes in the wake of the death of Rocco, a Pittsburgh police dog who died of a stab wound last week. A fugitive charged with wounding the animal, 21-year-old John Rush, faces up to seven years in prison under the state's current law, a third-degree felony.
Smith and the other lawmakers want the state to catch up to federal law, which imposes a maximum 10-year sentence and $1,000 fine for killing a police animal.
Copyright AP - Associated Press
