Danville judge convicts man in opossum stomping death case

WSLS News ^ | 10/20/09 | Matt Tomsic

[sevinufnine]

A Vernon Hill man was found guilty Monday of animal cruelty after he stomped an opossum to death while on a June 20 ride-along with a Danville police officer.

Evan Bryce Schuler, 23, appealed the judge’s decision, and his case will now move to circuit court.

[sevinufnine]

Schuler’s attorney, James Priest, said that his client was riding with McBride because he was thinking about applying for a job with the police department. But that job evaporated after the animal cruelty charge.

[from occupied ga]

well who hasn’t stomped a ‘possum to death?

[Mr. K]

Maybe that is just what they do to vermin in his neck of the woods- I’d have to see whether he was enjoying it a bit too much.

[Izzy Dunne]

Not a good career move.

[the_devils_advocate_666]

Stupid waste of government resources.

[Beagle8U]

I shoot ( or stomp) the worthless egg sucking bastards on sight!

[ClearCase_guy]

“He was like, ‘I shouldn’t have done that,’” McBride said.

Now I'm thinking of Jeff Goldblum in "The Fly" as his transformation begins in earnest. He sits down to a nice meal with Geena Davis, and vomits digestive juices all over his plate. "Oh. I shouldn't have done that. That was disgusting, wasn't it?"

[Joe 6-pack]

"Schuler’s attorney, James Priest, said his client grew up on a farm, where opossums killed more than 50 of his chickens. Schuler acted on “strict, basic instinct,” Priest said."

A fair judge with a sense of humor would order him to do all his commuting on a tractor for the next year.

[poobear]

Whoever turned the guy in should be stomped!

[Krankor]

Anyone who stomps an animal like that to death, is sick.

[allmendream]

Chicken farmer stomped an opossum?

Dog chases cats.

Frogs catch flies.

City folk may think an opossum is cute; but to a farmer they are vermin - to be destroyed on site.

I wouldn't take the guy as a cop (wouldn't do to have a boy in blue stomping the guts out of vermin in public); but animal cruelty?

He didn't want to be cruel to it; he just wanted it dead.

[Rennes Templar]

One of my pet peeves on FR (and it happens all the time) is when folks post a local story and don’t put the state in which it occurred in the headline (in parentheses). Danville where? If it’s a state in my region then I might open the link.

[allmendream]

ahem... ‘destroyed on sight’.

[calex59]

To start with opossums are legal game in most states, I cannot see why this guy has been charged with anything or what justifies this type of idiotic thinking. What a waste of time and money, not to mention that most cops shoot dogs out of hand these days and don't have anything done to them for doing it.

I could see them charging this guy with killing an Opossum out of season, hunting without a license or some other hunting related charge, but this is just stupid.

[C210N]

I don’t see any problem here... I can see convicting someone for stomping a cute racoon or lovable tiny chipmunk, or even a quaint skunk. But not for a ‘Rat-like Carvillian oppossum.

[GulfBreeze]

Rediculous!

Possums have no place in the city. They are dangerous and vidous (they don’t ALWAYS play dead. Possums make a mess out of garbage and the spread diseases like rabies, mange and others.

He did what the rest of those pantywaist “officers” should have done. He dispatched a nuisance animal, quickly and humanely without the unnecessary discharge of a weapon.

[dblshot]

Stomping a possum will will make it unfit for cooking and is therefore a waste of good meat.

[ConservativeMind]

Did the animal belong to anyone? Was this outside city limits, in a more rural area?

I have no problems with it and it should not have been illegal. Do we want to try people for involuntary animal slaughter when they hit a possum with their car?

Animals can have no rights.

[GulfBreeze]

You don’t know what your talking about. See my last post.

[Ditter]

I found a young possum that had fallen into my garbage can and could not get out My first instinct was to kill the ugly little creature, but I soon realized I could not do that. I gave it a drink of water and turned it loose. Would I make a good cop? Probably not.