Judge dismisses cruelty charges against officer who hit and killed escape horse with patrol car

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WEST CHESTER, Pa. (AP) — A judge has dismissed felony animal cruelty charges against a Pennsylvania police officer who euthanized a runaway horse after repeatedly striking it with his patrol car, pinning it to the sidewalk.

On Tuesday, Chester County District Attorney Chris De Barrena-Sarobe informed the judge that attorneys for Corporal Michael Perillo intend to argue at trial that the horse had to be struck to prevent a potentially serious accident. Noting that the law requires people to value human life over animal life, Barrena-Sarobe said, “I believe the necessity defense is valid and will succeed at trial.”

Perillo was suspended without pay because Filing charges He was charged by the State Police Internal Affairs Division in July 2022. He faces two felony charges of aggravated animal cruelty and one misdemeanor charge of animal cruelty stemming from a December 2021 incident involving a horse on a highway in Chester County west of Philadelphia.

Authorities said the horse was on the shoulder of the road in Lower Oxford Township and had been hit by a driver before police were called in. Perillo drove into the horse several times, causing it to fall and then pinning it to the road. Another officer then euthanized the horse.

Perillo joined the state police force in September 2006 and was assigned to Troop J in Avondale. He remains free on bail awaiting trial.

His attorney, Williams Davis, told West Chester Daily Local News The decision to seek a dismissal of the indictment was the right one, and we thank the District Attorney for seeking that dismissal.

“We have always believed that this was an unfair prosecution,” Davis said. “If my client had not taken action, it could have turned deadly. He was trying to protect other motorists.”