CURRITUCK COUNTY, N.C. — A Chesapeake man faces charges for hitting a wild horse with his off-road vehicle on an Outer Banks beach. Investigators in Currituck County say he tried to run away after the crash, and the horse had to be euthanized.
Late Friday night, deputies responded to a crash involving a horse and a UTV on the beach. The driver of the UTV had run away, but witnesses provided a description of the driver and where he ran off.
The registration on the wrecked UTV led deputies to identify 57-year-old Porter Williamson of Chesapeake, Virginia, as the owner.
While towing the off-road UTV, deputies spotted Williamson and he tried to run away again. Officers started chasing Williamson and were able to take him into custody shortly after.
Police charged Williamson with resisting, delaying, and obstructing law enforcement and placed him under a $10,000 bond. Rhonda Williamson was also charged with resisting, delaying, and obstructing law enforcement and was placed under a $5,000 bond for providing false information to law enforcement.
Tragically, the horse, identified by the Corolla Wild Horse Fund as a 10-year-old stallion named Bullwinkle, sustained severe injuries and had to be euthanized. The injuries included significant skin trauma, a broken right hind leg, trauma to the left hind leg, and severe internal injuries.
Director of Herd Management at Corolla Wild horse Fund, Meg Puckett, explained that "the speed limit is 35, but that doesn't mean you should be going 35," especially while knowing there are wild horses around the beach.
In a Facebook post, the Corolla Wild Horse Fund described Bullwinkle as a prime example of a wild Banker stallion and talked about how this harms the endangered herd's genes. Bullwinkle was buried at the edge of the meadow where he had last been filmed a day earlier.
"The main thing to take away from this is people really need to be responsible for themselves," Puckett said.
READ NEXT:
WATCH NEXT: