AVONDALE, Pa. — A Pennsylvania State Police trooper has been charged with aggravated cruelty to animals after an on-duty incident in Chester County last year, PSP announced Friday.
Corporal Michael Perillo, who is assigned to Troop J in Avondale, allegedly struck a loose horse with his police vehicle multiple times during an incident in Lower Oxford Township on Dec. 28, 2021, PSP said.
An investigation by PSP Internal Affairs Division determined Perillo drove his vehicle into the horse multiple times, causing it to fall to the ground. He then pinned the horse under his vehicle so that another trooper could euthanize the animal, according to PSP.
The horse, which had been running loose along Route 1, had already been struck by another motorist before police arrived, PSP said.
Perillo is charged with two counts of aggravated cruelty to animals, both graded as a felony of the third degree, and one count of cruelty to animals, a misdemeanor of the second degree. He has been suspended without pay pending resolution of the case.
The complaint was filed before Magisterial District Judge Scott Massey, in Oxford. He was arraigned today at the Chester County Justice Center, and bail was set at $50,000 unsecured.
Perillo has been a member of PSP since Sept. 2006.
