December 21, 2021 turned out to be a tragic end for an unnamed horse near Oxford, PA. Just before midnight Pennsylvania State Police (PSP) from Troop J in Avondale responded to a call about a horse standing on the shoulder of Route 1, a four-lane divided highway. The horse reportedly had been struck by a motorist.
What happened next is both inexplicable and horrific; and one of the responding officers, Corporal Michael Perillo, has now been charged with two counts of aggravated cruelty to animals causing death, aggravated cruelty to animals by torture and cruelty to animals. He was arraigned at the Chester County Justice Center and bail was set at $50,000 unsecured.
A Tortured Death
The Chester County District Attorney, Deb Ryan, in a statement released on Facebook and via Instagram, said that “the horse that was loose on US-1 last December suffered a tortured death at the hands of Cpl. Michael Perillo. Inflicting such pain on an innocent animal is unthinkable and inexcusable. No one is above the law, and my office will hold the defendant accountable for his actions.” Just before summarizing the events that culminated in the horse’s death, the statement went on to affirm that every defendant is considered innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
Perillo and another officer responded to a call about a horse standing on the shoulder of US Route 1 in Lower Oxford Twp. According to the report, the horse had been struck by a car and there was some damage to the vehicle, but no injuries to anyone. When the troopers arrived on the scene, the horse began walking north in the southbound lane of Route 1.
The troopers were apparently not prepared for the possibility of actually helping the horse get out of danger. “One trooper unsuccessfully tried to capture the horse using a makeshift rope from jumper cables,” according to the DA’s office.
The horse moved away again, this time onto the southbound on-ramp toward Route 10. Perillo drove behind the horse onto the ramp, he activated his emergency lights and tried to block the horse, which tried to go around the car. Perillo repositioned his car and the horse tried again to go around it. That’s when Perillo first used the car to hit the horse.
The horse turned around and went toward Route 1, “where (the other) trooper stood holding the makeshift rope in his right hand and his firearm in his left. The trooper fired in the animal’s direction five times, striking it at least once in the left rib cage.”
At this point the horse started running and Perillo followed. “The defendant followed the running horse and struck it four times in the legs with his vehicle, with the horse landing on the hood the fourth time. The defendant struck it a fifth time when the horse fell from the hood. When the horse tried to stand up, the defendant struck it a sixth time, driving his car on top of the animal. Because the horse was still breathing, one of the other troopers present euthanized it.”
Chester County, Awash in Horses
There are almost a quarter of a million horses in Pennsylvania, and thousands of them live in Chester County, where horse barns and pastures set on rolling hills beckon equestrians. There are show barns, there are world-renowned hunts, there are backyard farms, there are steeplechases and miles of trails and farms where world-class thoroughbreds are born.
Inevitably, horses get out of their pastures and that’s when the kindness of strangers can make the difference between a happy return to the pasture and a profound tragedy. Given the nature of the region served by Troop J, it’s hard to imagine that the police are not better prepared to handle this kind of situation. Lieutenant Adam Reed, who is the PSP Director of the Communications Office, says there is an animal welfare coordinator assigned to the State Police. One. And there are individuals assigned to each troop, but these are primarily dedicated to investigating animal cruelty reports from the public.
Given Troop J’s location in Chester County, it seems both prudent and expedient for all officers to have special training to deal with the possibility of confronting this kind of situation. The officers went to the scene prepared to do who-knows-what. Because they had no rope, they tried to fashion a rope from battery jumper cables. The result of the officers’ lack of preparation, training—and apparent lack of compassion and empathy—was a profoundly cruel death of an animal that needed help.
Unanswered Questions
If it seems there are yawning gaps in the fact summary provided by the State Police, it’s because there are. Where did the horse come from? They think it got loose from a local farm. Which farm? Nobody knows. Did the horse’s owner ever come forward? Nobody knows. Is it reasonable for an officer to shoot at a horse that is not endangering anyone? PSP Use of Force Rules are unequivocal. “Members may use a firearm to kill a dangerous animal in self-defense or defense of another person, or to terminate the suffering of a critically injured or sick animal, when other means of disposal are impractical. Whenever possible, the owner of the animal to be destroyed shall be contacted and written permission obtained. In the event the owner cannot be located, the identification of any available witnesses who will attest to the need to destroy the animal shall be recorded. Whenever the shooting of an animal is necessary, precautions shall be taken to protect any nearby persons or property. All actions taken shall be documented in the appropriate report.”