In 2020, two police officers in Rockland, Maine, were fired after "beating porcupines to death" for the pleasure of it, and charged with animal cruelty. Addison Cox, 28, of Warren, and Michael A. Rolerson, 31, of Searsmont, plead guilty to the charges and were sentenced to 90 and 270 days in jail respectively, with most of the sentences suspended. Cox will spent 10 days in jail and Rolerson 20, and Cox can do his time at weekends.
Cox can apply for law enforcement work again in six months, too, but Rolerson gives up his Maine Criminal Justice Academy Credentials permanently.
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.
The flip side of this coin: "Cops Abuse Wives and Kids at Staggering Rates".
