Man on police ride-along stomps opossum to death

[October 21, 2009]  DANVILLE, Va. (AP) -- A Virginia man on a police ride-along was found guilty of animal cruelty after he jumped out of the police car and stomped an opossum to death.

The Danville Register & Bee reported Tuesday that 23-year-old Evan Bryce Schuler saw the opossum run along a fence. A police officer testified that Schuler ran up to the fence, grabbed the links and "started stomping."

Schuler's lawyer, James Priest, said Schuler grew up on a farm where opossums killed his chickens and acted on instinct. Priest appealed the district court's ruling and the case will move to circuit court.

___

Information from: Danville Register & Bee, http://www.registerbee.com/

[Associated Press]

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.