'It had nothing to do with us': Condo board accepts no responsibility for soap star who killed himself after 'being forced to euthanize his beloved dog'



The condo board whose rules drove Nick Santino to euthanize his beloved put bull was not responsible for the soap operate star's suicide, says a board member.

Mr Santino wrote a suicide note Tuesday that said: ' Today I betrayed my best friend. Rocco trusted me and I failed him. He didn’t deserve this.'

The 47-year-old actor overdosed on pills hours later at his Upper West Side New York City apartment. He died on his birthday.



Man's best friend: In a suicide note, actor Nick Santino wrote: 'Rocco trusted me and I failed him. He didn't deserve this'

It's all a shame, condo board member Marilyn Fineman told the New York Post: 'But it has nothing to do with the pet policy.



'You just assumed that was a result of a board’s decision.'

The denial comes as Mr Santino's family revealed he would be buried with Rocco's ashes so the two pals can be together in death.



His apartment building, only steps away from the world-renowned Lincoln Centre, announced a strict new policy in 2010 banning pit bulls from the building.

While the rule didn’t apply to those who already had those dogs, those who knew Santino said he was harassed and received multiple complaints about his pet, the Post reports.

‘It was open season on him,’ neighbour Kevan Cleary, 63, said.

Doggone shame: Struggling actor Nick Santino committed suicide after putting down his dog Rocco

The Post said Santino was not allowed to ride the main elevator or leave Rocco unattended for more than nine hours.

Lia Pettigrew, another one of Santino’s neighbours, said: ‘Everybody knows that he had been harassed by the building management.’

Santino had acted in All My Children, Guiding Light, was born in Brooklyn and grew up moving from foster home to foster home.

More recently, he had minor roles in USA's Royal Pains and the CW's Gossip Girl.



Doggy ban: Santino's Upper West Side apartment building had banned pit bulls in 2010. Neighbours said he was hounded over owning the breed

He wrote on his Facebook wall how much his pet meant to him. ‘I did not rescue Rocco, Rocco rescued me.’



After he put Rocco down, Santino gave some of his dog treats to the doorman of the building with tears flowing down his face. Neighbours heard him say: ‘Give these to the other dogs. Rocco is no more.’

'Today I betrayed my best friend. Rocco trusted me and I failed him. He didn’t deserve this.' -Nick Santino



Mr Cleary said: ‘He was distraught and remorseful about putting down his best friend.’

Later, he left Rocco’s dog bed and two rawhide bones at another neighbour’s doors.

His last call was to a former girlfriend, hours before police discovered his body.



Though a veterinarian told Santino that his dog was becoming increasingly more aggressive, dog owner James Steven Grand said: ‘Rocco was the sweetest dog in the world. Rocco wouldn’t hurt a fly.’

It appeared that Santino died from overdosing on pills, the New York Post said.

