Police find 22 animals in trailer
Associated Press
Friday, April 13, 2001
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (AP) -- Police stopped a truck on U.S. 41 after motorists reported an animal's leg was hanging from the rear of a trailer and being dragged along the highway.
State Police found 22 animals in the trailer on Thursday, including three dead steers, two steers near death and a horse that had to be put to sleep by a veterinarian.
The truck driver, Jarod W. Steffen, 21, of Richmond, Ill., was arrested in preliminary charges of animal cruelty, a misdemeanor punishable by a maximum fine of $1,000 and up to 180 days in jail.
Steffen told police he was carrying the livestock because he is a rodeo bulldogger.