Cop ‘destroys’ possibly rabid raccoon by repeatedly running over it with a car in Ohio

A police officer in Ohio says there’s a good reason he ran over a raccoon multiple times — it might have been rabid.

The Shelby Police Department came under fire on Wednesday after video of a police SUV surfaced on social media. The video — which may be graphic to some viewers — shows the SUV running over a raccoon several times in what appears to be a residential neighborhood.

Viewers took to the comments to express their concerns, some calling for the officer to be fired.

“I’m so sick about this I’m going to vomit,” one user wrote.

“What kind of human does that to an animal!?” wrote another.

Police, however, say it was a matter of public safety — the officer believed the raccoon was rabid.

Officers responded to a call Wednesday evening about a “sick or rabid raccoon” after a caller expressed concern that children playing with the animal might be bitten, WEWS reported.

The officer noted that the raccoon appeared unwell as it “staggered” down the street and ultimately determined it needed to be “destroyed,” WBNS reported. Because the area was so heavily populated, the officer says he didn’t think it was safe to shoot the animal and instead decided to run over it with his police cruiser.

“The actions in the video are certainly unpleasant to watch,” police chief Lance Combs said in a news release, according to the Mansfield News-Journal. “However, leaving a sick or injured animal in a situation that could be dangerous to the public especially to children that had already been seen near the animal, the officer chose to side with public safety and to destroy the animal as quickly as possible, without endangering the public.”

Officials say the county does not have an animal control unit and that law enforcement has not been trained to deal with rabid animals, WEWS reported.

The animal was ultimately retrieved by the Shelby Fire Department and will be tested to determine if the animal was, indeed, sick, according to the news outlet.

This story was originally published November 14, 2019 at 9:04 AM with the headline "Cop ‘destroys’ possibly rabid raccoon by repeatedly running over it with a car in Ohio."