Police horse sprayed with insecticide - Portsmouth, VA

Monday, Jan 31, 2005

County: Portsmouth City

Disposition: Acquitted

Person of Interest: Vanessa Gatling

A Portsmouth woman accused of spraying a police horse with insecticide has been acquitted of a felony charge of maliciously trying to injure the animal.

A Portsmouth Circuit Court Judge said that prosecutors failed to prove that 53-year-old Vanessa Gatling had malicious intent when she sprayed ant-killer toward the horse in February.

Officer O-B Wilson of the Portsmouth mounted patrol said Gatling sprayed twice from 15 feet away.

He said that neither he nor the horse was injured.

The judge said he believed that there was ... quote ... "clearly something amiss" about what she did, but not enough evidence to convict her.

Gatling told reporters after the trial that the horse scared her when she stepped off a city bus.

References

• WAVY - July 26, 2005

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