UPPER EAST SIDE — A 24-year-old analyst for Barclays was arrested on Wednesday for torturing his roommate's cat — breaking the pet's leg and claws and burning her tail while the owner was away at work, according to the NYPD.
Declan Garrity, who lives on Second Avenue near East 89th Street, was arrested at 7:50 a.m. at the apartment he shares with his roommate, who over the weekend, found her cat covered with injuries, according to police and the pet's owner.
The roommate, 29-year-old Danielle, who declined to share her last name, came home from her nursing job on the morning of Feb. 20 to find her cat, Lucy, hiding in her carrier with a back foot facing in the wrong direction and damp and missing fur, according to the criminal complaint.
Danielle told police she also found paper towels on the bathroom vanity that had cat hair and blood on them.
She immediately took Lucy to a veterinary clinic and discovered the cat had a dislocated and fractured right leg, broken teeth, burns on the tail, butt and thighs, broken claws and severe muscle injury, according to the complaint.
When she texted Garrity to find out whether he knew how the injuries happened, he wouldn't respond, raising suspicion, she said.
“He offered nothing,” she said. “I didn’t see it, until I saw the whole picture.”
Danielle said she works long hours, sometimes overnight, and the incident over the weekend was the fourth time she had come home to find her cat hurt.
She had taken Lucy to the vet a number of occasions over the last month that Garrity lived with her — he moved into the apartment in November 2015 — for what she believed to be a medical condition. But she, nor the doctors, suspected the injuries were from abuse until Saturday, she said.
“My head doesn’t go to someone ripping my cat’s nails out,” she said. “No one suspected it until now. It’s nauseating.”
Lucy's behavior changed after Garrity moved into the apartment, Danielle said. Lucy would hide in her owner's closet, refused to eat and constantly licked her paws.
In one instance, on Jan. 25, Danielle came home to find Lucy hurt, and when she asked Garrity about it, he told her the cat had knocked over an iron and it landed on her, Danielle said.
When the doctors looked into Lucy's injuries from this past Saturday, the vet discovered signs of a previous fractured hip, bruised and broken ribs and a cut lip, Danielle said.
Garrity was charged with two counts of felony aggravated animal cruelty, misdemeanor torturing, injuring and not feeding an animal, authorities say.
At his arraignment, the judge set bail at $5,000 cash or bond. He's being held at the Manhattan Detention Complex pending a Feb. 29 court date, records show.
Danielle said she met Garrity through Craigslist, and he seemed to be a great roommate.
“I met him a couple of times, called his references and Googled him, but he had no record,” she said. “He was a really great roommate and told me he had grown up with a cat and his parents had a dog.”
In disbelief, Danielle said she tried to think of other ways the cat could've gotten hurt, but nothing else made sense.
“I didn’t see this coming,” she said. “I hope he gets the punishment he deserves and is convicted rightfully. I never want to see him again.”
Lucy was undergoing one of several surgeries on Thursday afternoon at the Animal Medical Center on East 62nd Street, to get her stabilized, Danielle said.
Since her teeth are broken, Lucy is being fed through an IV, and seems to be getting stronger, she added.
"Last night when I visited, she was purring," Danielle said.
Garrity's attorney did not immediately return a call for comment.
A Barclays spokesman said Garrity is on a leave of absence pending thorough review, but would not say when or why it began nor would he comment on the allegations.
