Stolen horse dies after Texas man brutally beats and punches it in the head, cops say

A 21-year-old man has been arrested, accused of stealing a horse and beating it to death, police in Brookshire, Texas said in a news release.

Just after 7:15 p.m. Monday, police received a call about a man violently beating a horse. An eyewitness told police they saw a man “beating a horse with a lead rope, punching it in the face and mouth and yelling obscenities at the animal,” police said.

The suspect, Traveon Marques Hillsman, ran from police when they arrived. The horse, police said was stolen and “extremely exhausted, shaking uncontrollably and dripping sweat.”

Shortly after, the horse fell, stopped breathing and died, police said.

Hillsman was arrested on Tuesday, police said and has been charged with “cruelty to livestock, theft of livestock, burglary of a building and evading arrest.”

Brookshire is a town of about 5,000 people, 40 miles west of Houston.