"I got out of the vehicle. I went over there and stomped him, stomped his head three or four times. I believe he was dead on the first hit,” said Evan Schuler.
Schuler of Halifax County is being charged with animal cruelty for killing a opossum on June 20th.
He was doing a civilian ride-a-long with a Danville police officer. When they stopped for gas here at the city filling station, he saw the opossum running along the fence.
“He actually chased a opossum down and kicked him to the point where the opossum was killed. It's a class one misdemeanor for that crime,” said Danville Police Lieutenant Mike Mondul.
Schuler says he's had problems with opossums in the past with them actually killing dozens of their chickens.
"They’re just a nasty creature. It's a rodent. They wreak havoc on our place here,” said Schuler.
Schuler says he agrees that he should not have killed the opossum while with the officer, but thinks the charge is unnecessary.
When Schuler was asked if he thought he should be charged with animal cruelty, he said, "No sir, I think that's a little harsh because animal cruelty is like starving an animal or beating it."
"We feel the proper thing was done in the end and that was to charge the young man with a crime because it was a crime,” said Mondul.
Schuler has hired a lawyer and plans on fighting the charge at his August twenty-first court date.
"I didn’t realize a opossum was such a valuable animal. If I have to live with this on my record the rest of my life it would be kind of terrible,” said Schuler.
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