Lucky the rabbit is living up to her name, no thanks to her college- bound owner, who with his friends is accused of taping her to a powerful explosive and tossing her into a Castro Valley lake.
Luckily for Lucky, nothing blew up and her owner fished her out of the water because, he told The Chronicle, he didn't want her to drown.
But that didn't impress Alameda County prosecutors, who charged Nick Sigmon, an 18-year-old lifeguard at Lake Don Castro, and fellow lifeguard Paul Collins, 20, of Castro Valley with misdemeanor animal cruelty on Wednesday. Two other people present during the July 13 incident may also face charges.
"I think that a lot of people are judging us without knowing us at all," Sigmon said. "It's really bothering me."
Collins declined to comment Wednesday.
Sigmon said he adopted Lucky after he nearly ran over her with his Acura Integra as she hopped across a San Leandro street just after Easter. He's headed to UC Santa Barbara this fall -- to study biology -- and said he simply can't care for Lucky anymore.
Asked why the group decided to tape an illegal M-1000 -- a huge firecracker equivalent to a quarter of a stick of dynamite -- to the animal, Sigmon replied, "Um, that's a real tough question to answer." Their downfall came when one of them snapped photos of their alleged deeds and posted them on his Web log, an online diary of sorts. Because nothing on the Internet remains a secret for long, someone who happened upon the photos posted them on Craigslist, the hugely popular bulletin board where people post jobs, sell stuff and look for dates.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/07/29/BAGI17UUIL1.DTL
Luckily for Lucky, nothing blew up and her owner fished her out of the water because, he told The Chronicle, he didn't want her to drown.
But that didn't impress Alameda County prosecutors, who charged Nick Sigmon, an 18-year-old lifeguard at Lake Don Castro, and fellow lifeguard Paul Collins, 20, of Castro Valley with misdemeanor animal cruelty on Wednesday. Two other people present during the July 13 incident may also face charges.
"I think that a lot of people are judging us without knowing us at all," Sigmon said. "It's really bothering me."
Collins declined to comment Wednesday.
Sigmon said he adopted Lucky after he nearly ran over her with his Acura Integra as she hopped across a San Leandro street just after Easter. He's headed to UC Santa Barbara this fall -- to study biology -- and said he simply can't care for Lucky anymore.
Asked why the group decided to tape an illegal M-1000 -- a huge firecracker equivalent to a quarter of a stick of dynamite -- to the animal, Sigmon replied, "Um, that's a real tough question to answer." Their downfall came when one of them snapped photos of their alleged deeds and posted them on his Web log, an online diary of sorts. Because nothing on the Internet remains a secret for long, someone who happened upon the photos posted them on Craigslist, the hugely popular bulletin board where people post jobs, sell stuff and look for dates.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/07/29/BAGI17UUIL1.DTL