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Volusia County, FL – A 22-year-old man charged with deliberately using a vehicle to kill a horse and injure its rider near Orange City last year is back in Volusia County Jail.
Christopher Todd’s bond was revoked on Wednesday following a traffic stop last month where he was found with marijuana in his vehicle, according to prosecutors.
Todd has entered not guilty to 3 felony counts of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, killing or aggravated abuse of a horse and leaving the scene of a crash with injury in an incident last February at French Landing near the St. Johns River.
Prosecutors say the victim was riding with family and friends at the landing when Todd sped up in his white 2015 Dodge Ram 1500, almost driving it into the river in the same area where the group was giving their horses a break.
Authorities say Todd got into a verbal argument with one of the riders before driving away and then doing a quick U-turn, driving straight at the group of riders.
The group split in different directions, but one horse – a black Tennessee Walker – allegedly stopped in its tracks and Todd intentionally rammed it, ejecting its rider onto the hood of his truck.
That rider – who was not the one arguing with Todd – ran off into the nearby woods with a broken collarbone as Todd circled around the dying horse and then left the scene, according to the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office.
Todd was arrested about 30 miles away from the scene after a deputy found the truck going through the Seville area and pulled it over. 2 of the people in the group positively identified the truck afterward, which VCSO said still had horse hair in the grill.
The case is set for trial in February.
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Christopher Todd (mugshot courtesy VCJ)
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