A Florida man accused of causing the death of a beloved flamingo died after being hit by a truck, two months before his scheduled trial.
48-year-old Joseph Corrao of Orlando was crossing State Road 50 in Orange County when he was struck by a pickup truck in the early morning of June 5, said the Florida Highway Patrol, reported the Tampa Bay Times. Emergency responders transported Corrao to Florida Hospital East, where he was pronounced dead.
Corrao was facing a trial this August for animal cruelty, according to The Tampa Bay Times. He was accused of being responsible for the death of Pinky the flamingo, an animal ambassador of Busch Gardens Tampa, Florida.
The suspect accused of killing Busch Gardens’ famous flamingo, “Pinky,” died after being hit by a truck in Orlando, the Florida Highway Patrol says.https://t.co/A4UDlSE80I pic.twitter.com/LAotZXPXwc
— FOX 13 Tampa Bay (@FOX13News) June 25, 2019
Fox13 News reported that Corrao visited the animal theme park in August 2016 with his mother, brother, and three teenage kids. In the Jambo Junction viewing area, he reached into the animal pen to grab a flamingo and put it back down.
Despite other park visitors telling him he “shouldn’t do that,” Corrao moved on to grab Pinky and “threw her to the ground,” severely injuring the bird’s foot, reported the Orlando Sentinel.
“He was loud and obnoxious, screaming, ‘I got it! I got another one,’ while shaking the flamingo up over his head before he violently slammed the flamingo to the ground,” a park visitor told FOX 13 News. “He also laughed out loud after he slammed the flamingo to the ground.”
Pinky, a 19-year-old dancing Chilean flamingo, was taken to the animal care center. As her injury worsened, the park veterinarians had no choice but to euthanize the bird.
“Pinky was a beloved member of the Busch Gardens Tampa Bay family and made many appearances on behalf of the park’s conservation and education efforts,” reads a statement from the park on Pinky’s death. “She will be sorely missed.”
Dubbed “Flamingo Flamenco,” Pinky’s signature move is stomping her feet while turning in a circle. A short video of her signature dance move uploaded to the park’s official YouTube channel had over 850,000 views at the time of this publication.
Corrao was arrested and charged with animal cruelty, reported Orlando Sentinel. He was jailed for five days and later released after paying a $5,000 bail.
Corrao had served jail time after he was convicted of shooting his neighbor’s two chained dogs dead at point-blank range with shotgun in 2013, blaming them for killing his daughter’s rabbits, according to Tampa Bay Times. Records show that he had also faced charges of hit and run, child abuse, contributing to the delinquency of a child, driving under the influence, DUI with serious bodily injury, and burglary.
The Times reported that Corrao, whose public defender raised concerns about his mental health, was ordered by the judge to undergo training at home in order to restore competency to stand trial. He was also required to avoid alcohol and to continue taking his prescribed medication. The prosecution began moving again in March this year after Corrao was declared competent.
Last week, prosecutors announced that they had dropped the criminal charge and canceled the trial, originally scheduled for August, upon learning of his death.
