A police response to reports of a raccoon behaving erratically turned into a gruesome public spectacle in a Mass. town on Christmas Day.<\/p>\n
Hopedale police on Thursday killed a raccoon in a Hopedale neighborhood as residents watched, according to a statement released by the town and police officials<\/a>.<\/p>\n According to the statement, police received multiple calls of a raccoon behaving aggressively and exhibiting some signs of disorientation \u2014 \u201cbehavior widely recognized by public health officials as consistent with potential rabies infection,\u201d according to the statement.<\/p>\n When officers arrived and found the animal, they decided to euthanize it. Because the neighborhood is densely populated, officers did not use guns.<\/p>\n The statement does not say how the officers killed the raccoon, but according to WCVB<\/a>, bystanders \u2014 including children \u2014 gathered and watched as the officers used their vehicle to run over the raccoon repeatedly until it was dead.<\/p>\n \u201cI guess he decided to do what he did and drove over the raccoon,\u201d an unidentified resident told WCVB<\/a>. \u201cAnd then he went backwards, and then the raccoon was, like, seizing almost, so then he went over it again, because it wasn\u2019t dead at that point and you could see it, he was like, moving around.\u201d<\/p>\n Officers then moved the raccoon to the side of the road to be picked up later by Animal Control, according to the town\u2019s statement.<\/p>\n The statement said the incident has prompted some backlash against the officers, but defended them against criticism.<\/p>\n \u201cDue to the density of the neighborhood and the presence of nearby homes and residents, the use of a firearm was not a safe or appropriate option,\u201d the statement read. \u201cThe actions taken by the responding officer were lawful, necessary, and fully authorized under Massachusetts law and public health guidance. The Town unequivocally supports the officer and the Police Department in carrying out their duties to protect the community and prevent serious harm.\u201d<\/p>\n The statement scolded people who have harassed or questioned the \u201cmental health or fitness\u201d of those involved. It acknowledged people\u2019s right to express their opinion but warned that publicly targeting a police officer, spreading misinformation and encouraging harassment \u201ccrosses a clear line\u201d and could \u201cexpose\u201d a person \u201cto criminal and civil liability.\u201d<\/p>\n This has happened before<\/p>\n The situation mirrors a similar incident that happened in Springfield last year, where the city\u2019s top fire official used his government-issued vehicle to run over a raccoon<\/a> he believed to be rabid.<\/p>\n Springfield Fire Commissioner Bernard J. Calvi came under intense criticism from the city council<\/a> for killing the raccoon, but was cleared of wrongdoing and no criminal charges were filed<\/a> against him, though the investigation into the handling of the affair revealed a breakdown in the city\u2019s plan for handling rabid animals.<\/p>\n More Local Animal Stories<\/p>\n Read the original article on MassLive<\/a>. Add MassLive<\/a> as a Preferred Source by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A police response to reports of a raccoon behaving erratically turned into a gruesome public spectacle in a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":375105,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[183529,121302,75470,617,79,28123,201],"class_list":["post-375104","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-hopedale-police","tag-police-response","tag-public-health-officials","tag-raccoon","tag-science","tag-wcvb","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375104","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=375104"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375104\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/375105"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=375104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=375104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=375104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}