Five months before Maine police officer Michael Rolerson became internationally notorious as the porcupine killer, he turned his aggression towards an 80-year-old woman by brutally attacking her, then arresting her on false charges that she had assaulted him.
On Friday, the woman, Glennis Lane, filed a lawsuit against Rolerson, who was fired from the Rockland Police Department in October 2020 for killing the porcupines along with another cop named Addison Cox who also killed porcupines they encountered on the side of the road during their shifts.
Both cops were sentenced to jail for killing the porcupines but got off relatively easy because both are combat veterans, according to the Bangor Daily News.
Rolerson who served in the Afghanistan War as a U.S. Marine blamed his aggressive actions on the PTSD he suffers from as a result from the war.
But it was that combat experience that excited the Rockland Police Department in 2017 when it hired him as you can see in the screenshot below.
Rolerson had been on the job for two-and-a-half years when he arrested a man named Robert Jackomino for operating a vehicle without a license on May 21, 2020.
Lane, who is Jackomino’s mother, pulled into his apartment complex after he had already been transported to jail and found his car parked about 100 feet from its usual parking pace with the cop car behind it.
Rolerson told Lane that her son had been arrested and that he was going to have the car towed.
But Lane asked the cop if she could simply drive the car into its usual parking space to avoid the hassle and expense of having to retrieve the car from a towing company.
However, Rolerson told her she would not be allowed which is a violation of department policy, according to the lawsuit, which states the officer is supposed to give the owner of the car the option of having it towed with the company of their choice or to simply leave it in its current spot with the doors locked as long as it is in a safe and legal spot.
“You’re not taking the truck,” Rolerson told Lane, according to the suit.
But Rolerson began climbing into the truck anyway to park it which infuriated Rolerson who walked up behind her and grabbed her by both arms.
Rolerson then proceeded to “batter, manhandle and otherwise use unnecessary force towards Ms. Lane, causing multiple visual injuries and bruises,” the lawsuit states.
He then handcuffed her very tightly and drove her to jail on charges of assault and refusing to submit to arrest,” which were eventually dismissed.
One month after that arrest, Rolerson was driving his patrol car with another cop in the passenger seat when he spotted a porcupine on the side of the road.
He stopped the car and stepped out to beat the porcupine to death with his retractable baton, according to the Portland Press Herald.
“I got him,” he allegedly told the other cop with a smile on his face who was recording and posted the video on Snapchat to a group of officers, a platform where videos disappear after they are viewed.
Rolerson also admitted to pepper spraying the animals before beating them to death.
It was not until late August when an officer reported the incidents to superior officers which is what led to both cops getting fired and charged with felony animal cruelty two months later.
However, the felony charge was reduced to a misdemeanor and both cops pleaded guilty.
Rosenor who admitted killing 11 porcupines received a 270-day jail sentence in July 2021 with all but 20 days suspended, according to KIRO 7.
Cox who said he killed three porcupines because he had looked up to Rosenor was sentenced to 90 days in jail with all but 10 days suspended. Cox was allowed to serve his time on weekends and Rosenor was supposed to start serving his time in January.
Read the lawsuit here.
B.S! PTSD doesn’t work that way. This p.o.s. should have been fired and locked up for public safety a long time ago!!
I guarantee I have a tremendous amount more combat time than this so called “Marine”. Afghanistan, Iraq, Desert Storm, Panama combat tours and I have documented PTSD events that go back to the mid-80’s and I don’t have urges to kill small animal or assault little old ladies! If anything, it has made me appreciate life much more after being involved with so much killing.
Some with PTSD do have a violent streak from their service, but those are far and few between.
I agree