LYNN — Ward 1 City Councilor Wayne Lozzi was arraigned in Lynn District Court Friday afternoon on a charge of animal cruelty, after he allegedly kicked a cat on his back porch.
Home security camera footage of Lozzi walking to his back porch and kicking a cat circulated on social media in October after his son Zachary posted it on Instagram. The footage depicts a cat chasing Lozzi’s cat, Marjorie, on his back porch.
Lozzi, in his underwear, steps out of the house and kicks the cat that was chasing Marjorie through the air, before it bounces off of the porch railing and lands near the corner rail.
On Jan. 11, Lt. Cristine Speranza of the Lynn Police Department filed a criminal complaint against Lozzi for animal cruelty, alleging that Lozzi “cruelly beat” the cat.
Lozzi did not appear in court for his initial Feb. 8 clerk’s hearing. On Friday Lozzi’s attorney, William O’Hare, told Judge SallyAnn Janulevicus that Lozzi had “solid ground to suggest that he didn’t know there was the clerk’s hearing on that day.”
O’Hare argued that Lozzi kicked the cat to keep it away from his pet, who he believed was being attacked.
“He’s in his underwear early in the morning,” O’Hare said in reference to Lozzi. “His cat’s out there, a stray cat comes up off the deck and with his bare foot, he kicks it away from his cat and says, ‘Get out of here.'”
Janulevicus approved a motion from prosecutor Kevin Hennessey to release Lozzi with a $1,000 personal surety, under the condition that Lozzi surrender any pets under his custody and steer clear of any legal trouble until his 9 a.m. March 23 pre-trial hearing at Lynn District Court.
The animal cruelty charge followed a police investigation in which Lozzi’s son, also named Wayne, told police that Lozzi would make him “snuff out” kittens when there were too many in a litter.
According to a police report, Wayne told police that his father told him “animals don’t have souls, they’re only here for humans.” Wayne also told police that in 2021 Lozzi sent his other cat, Lilith, flying to the wall after she got into his marijuana plants in the basement.
Lilith, Wayne told police, went into hiding for two days after the incident. The cat later disappeared, and Wayne said that he remembered Lozzi feeding her the morning before. Wayne told police that his father said the cat “must have been eaten by hawks,” the police report said.
Wayne also told police that Lozzi would beat his dog, Bud, sometimes picking him up and throwing him, and once beating him by hand until the dog urinated.
Lozzi denied his son’s allegations, saying that he believed they were retaliatory in nature. He said that a year prior to the video’s release, he filed a restraining order against Wayne that expired shortly before the cat video was released.
On his charge, Lozzi said that he was confident he will be exonerated.
“I’m actually glad that it came to this point because there have been false allegations against me, and on social media,” Lozzi said.
