PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A 16-year veteran of the Pennsylvania State Police is accused of using his police vehicle to ram a horse on a highway in December.
Police say along U.S. 1 in Oxford, Cpl. Michael Perillo drove his patrol vehicle into a horse several times until the horse fell over, then used his vehicle to pin the horse down until another trooper shot and killed it.
But Perillo’s lawyer, William Davis, Jr., claims the dark-colored horse was running the wrong way on a dark stretch of the highway, and a car had already hit it.
The complaint alleges the other troopers were working to get the horse off the highway, but Perillo’s actions forced it back toward the highway.
Davis said Perillo had to make the difficult call to euthanize the animal to prevent another crash.
“[It’s] a very tragic situation that this horse had to be killed,'' Davis said.
“But my client, as a 16-year veteran, believes that every action he took and that the other troopers felt was necessary was reasonable to prevent other people from being killed.”
Perillo, 51, enlisted in the state police in Sept. 2006 and was assigned to Troop J in Avondale.
He is charged with aggravated cruelty to animals and is suspended without pay, pending a resolution to the case.
Bail is set at $50,000.