Officers Addison Cox and Mike Rolerson were fired from the police department in Rockland, Maine, after "beating porcupines to death," reports The Courier Gazette.
Another officer told the investigators that at another time, he was in a cruiser with Rolerson on Bog Road in Rockland, when Rolerson suddenly slammed on the brakes, ran out of the cruiser, leaving the door open and beat a porcupine. The fellow officer told the investigator he did not know what to do.
Rolerson told other officers he would sometimes pepper spray the porcupines before or after beating them. One officer upon hearing of one of these incidents, drove up to Bog Road seven hours after the attack occurred and found the porcupine still alive and twitching. The officer considered killing the animal to end its suffering, but did not know if he should.
If you're even tempted to think, well, it is just a rat in a hat, remember that cops take their work home.
