LOWELL, Mich. (WWJ) – A West Michigan police officer will not face animal abuse charges after a driver accused him of kicking a possum in the middle of the road and swearing.
Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker cleared the officer of any wrongdoing after the Lowell Police Department released body camera footage of the incident.
A driver had stopped on Alden Nash Avenue SE in Lowell - just east of Grand Rapids – because there were two possums in the road, according to a report from MLive. One of the animals appeared to be dead and the other, a younger possum, was apparently playing dead or was just lethargic.
Police were called to the scene because the driver had stopped their car in the middle of the road where the posted speed limit is 55 mph. The driver was reportedly waiting for a friend to come and help catch the smaller possum.
The driver had reported the officer kicked the animal off the road and swore during the incident. The driver believed the officers behavior “was cruel to the possum.”
Body camera footage, however, shows the officer used the side of his foot to roll the animal off the road.
Becker said “nothing (the officer) did here can accurately be described as attempting to inflict pain, or predisposed to inflict violence/ pain, or hardship.”
“He clearly was trying to get a possum off the road, and he did use force to do so/ but to argue that with these actions he was attempting to hurt or harm this animal simply is not supported by the evidence contained in the video footage,” Becker wrote in an opinion released Tuesday.
Becker said there was also no evidence the officer swore during their interactions, though he also noted the driver would not face any repercussions. There was no proof the driver knowingly or willingly filed a false police report.
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