The Pennsylvania State Police  announced that a state police trooper is charged with aggravated cruelty to animals after an on-duty incident in Chester County on Dec. 28, 2021.

A criminal complaint filed by the Pennsylvania State Police’s Internal Affairs Division alleges that Corporal Michael Perillo, responded to assist at an incident involving a loose horse on the roadway. Upon arrival, Perillo drove a patrol vehicle into the horse multiple times, causing it to fall. Using the vehicle, Perillo pinned the horse to the pavement, where it was then euthanized by another trooper. The horse was on the shoulder of Route 1 in Lower Oxford Township and had already been struck by a motorist before troopers were dispatched.

Perillo, who is assigned to Troop J in Avondale, 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. 

Perillo has been suspended without pay pending resolution of the case. He was arraigned at the Chester County Justice Center, and bail was set at $50,000 unsecured.

The complaint was filed before Magisterial District Judge Scott Massey, in Oxford. 

Perillo enlisted in the Pennsylvania State Police in September of 2006.