A Delaware Chancery Court judge has denied a man’s request to retrieve his beloved horse from a Felton landfill after it was killed in a hit-and-run.
Brent Marckese, a 34-year-old Port Penn resident, was riding his 9-year-old Clydesdale, Breeze, in Cheswold on Dec. 17 when they were struck by a truck. The driver did not stop, and police announced no arrests.
Marckese was pinned under the horse, he said, but eventually managed to free himself. He suffered bruising and contusions all over his body and was taken to a hospital, he said, while Breeze likely broke a leg and her hips. She could not stand up, according to Marckese, and he comforted her until he was taken to a hospital.
The owner of the farm at which Breeze was boarded and Breeze’s farrier, a veterinarian, attended to her after Marckese was taken to a hospital, court documents say. One or both of them made the decision to euthanize her, Marckese said, and the veterinarian paid for a contractor to remove her body from the scene. Breeze’s body was taken to Delaware Solid Waste Authority’s Sandtown Landfill in Felton.
Brent Marckese and his horse, Breeze.
The farm owner and veterinarian are friends of Marckese’s, he said, and he harbors no ill will toward them, but he doesn’t want Breeze’s final resting place to be a dump. He hired attorney Angelica M. Mamani, of the Hudson, Jones, Jaywork and Fisher law firm, to file a lawsuit in Chancery Court on Dec. 23, asking the court to issue a temporary restraining order to allow him access to the landfill.
The Delaware Solid Waste Authority has narrowed down Breeze’s location to an acre of land about 10 feet deep, court documents say.
“There is no doubt that Mr. Marckese would dig up that entire acre himself, given access and a shovel,” Chancellor Kathaleen St. J. McCormick wrote in her Jan. 3 opinion, “But there are very good reasons for preventing Delawareans from digging in landfills.”
‘I just want my horse back’
Marckese was released from the hospital in the early hours of Dec. 18, court documents say, and he learned of Breeze’s fate later that day. He arrived at the landfill at 7 a.m. Dec. 19 to “make arrangements to retrieve Breeze’s body,” court documents say, but learned he needed a court order first.
Marckese works in construction and lives paycheck to paycheck, he said, but money is no object for him when it comes to Breeze. He bought her when she was only 3 or 4 months old, he said. He visited her at the farm where she was boarded daily after work to groom her and take her for a short tide, court documents say. McCormick wrote in her opinion that Marckese “invested tremendous care and time training” Breeze.
“She was loved and cared for from day one,” Marckese said. “For her to end up in a landfill is asinine. Of course, we will pay whatever it costs to get her cremated. I don’t care about money. I just want my horse back.”
Breeze was a 9-year-old Clydesdale.
The dangers of excavating a landfill
The issues involved with retrieving Breeze from the landfill are many, court documents say. DSWA Chief of Facilities Management Jason Munyan provided an affidavit to the court detailing the issues, which McCormick interpreted in her ultimate denial of Marckese’s request.
Sandtown has a “working face,” which is where waste is deposited during daily operations, court documents say. At the end of each day, the working face is covered with soil to prevent odors and pathogens from escaping and vermin from getting in, according to court documents.
Excavating would require the DSWA to suspend operations on the current working face and create new one, court documents say. Engineers would need to be on-site due to the risks associated with excavation, according to court documents, which include releasing potentially flammable and/or toxic gases and damaging the gas-constraining wells and pipes within the landfill.
“Adding further complication to Mr. Marckese’s request,” McCormick wrote, the 1-acre area of the landfill where Breeze’s body was dumped is 10 feet thick, and animal carcasses are placed on the bottom of such areas to ensure adequate coverage.
Marckese pushed back at this, wondering just how much damage excavation could cause in an area only 10 feet deep.
Yet, during Munyan’s 19 years with the DSWA, “no member of the public has ever been granted access to a landfill for the purpose of retrieving a personal item,” McCormick wrote, and he estimates a safe excavation would cost about $25,000 a day.
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‘Apples and differential calculus’
McCormick’s opinion was objectively sympathetic to Marckese’s cause, calling his love for Breeze “undeniable” and his desire to treat her remains with respect “most praiseworthy.”
“How does one compare the solace of knowing that the remains of one’s beloved animal companion have been treated with dignity against the dangers of disturbing a meticulously engineered landfill?” McCormick wrote. “Forget comparing apples to oranges, it’s more like comparing apples to differential calculus.”
But her ultimate denial of Marckese’s request was due to the potential for others to be harmed, she wrote. Disturbing the landfill risks exposing DSWA’s workers and Felton’s residents to “serious harm,” she said, and then there’s the matter of establishing a precedent.
“The risks present here would rise exponentially were any animal owner allowed to dig-up her inadvertently landfilled companion,” McCormick wrote.
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Possible appeal
Marckese is now debating whether to appeal his case to the Supreme Court.
“I’ll win a jury trial,” he said. “Compassion’s gonna win over a jury.”
He also realizes time is passing quickly and the challenge of snow has been added to any excavation efforts. Still, he pointed to cases where human bodies have been retrieved from landfills.
“Why can’t they treat this like that?” he asked.
Shannon Marvel McNaught reports on southern Delaware and beyond. Reach her at smcnaught@gannett.com or on Twitter @MarvelMcNaught.
This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Why courts say Del. man can’t retrieve his beloved horse from landfill