Posted on 08/21/2011 10:10:19 AM PDT by nickcarraway
A Sarasota man was jailed for slapping a police horse on its hindquarters early Friday morning in downtown St. Petersburg.
The man, 28-year-old Prem Cox, says he was only trying to pet the animal and did not intend to startle or injure it.
"I went over to pet it on the butt and the cop put me in handcuffs," Cox said Friday afternoon. "That's basically how it happened."
An officer said in an arrest report that the horse, "Brooklyn," was startled and lunged forward into a crowded sidewalk.
Cox was jailed on a misdemeanor count of "injuring or killing a police horse" and bonded out for $150.
The report says Cox was under the influence of alcohol.
"I had a couple of beers but I wasn't drunk," he said. "We were eating pizza, the horse walked by and I tried to pet it. That's all that happened."
You better smile when you say that partner!
Your dog --> target practice.
Don't go up to an officer and pat him on the butt.
This is horse shit...
Police animals on two legs or four should not be viewd as more important than any other citizen.
Facts:
1. Horses are inherently dangerous around people because they are subject to instinctive flight reflex behavior at any time.
2. Even the best trained police horses may suddenly decide to bolt.
3. Most police horses are not sufficiently trained to not respond to unexpected stimuli, with the resulting risk to bystanders.
Conclusion: Mounted police are for riot control, not prancing around crowds.
As for the fool who was so drunk or stupid as to contact the rear end of a horse, he got off easily. The horse could have just as easily maimed or killed the drunken fool.
If horses are spooked so easily, how can they handle a riot without freaking out let alone a busy area of people?
These days, interacting with cops is like deciding it is a good idea to interact with Manson. Avoid and shun evil.
Hard to judge without being there. Cops are all about ego, but smacking a horse on the backside is pretty stupid.
About 50 years ago, in the beautiful city of Angeles, Pampanga, one of my squadron mates emerged from a saloon with a snootful of San Miguel. A Filipino calesa driver (a pony powered taxi), parked his cart and went in to buy a couple of sticks (cigarettes). My mate stopped in front of the pony and punched it right in the face. The pony tipped over, unconscious, and took the cart with it. Never did like that guy.
We attended a counter-protest which had a large contingent of mounted officers to help control the “peace” demonstrators. My Pat, one of the weirdest children ever, was about 3-1/2 then, and he went up to each horse, looked it in the eye, and told it his life story and probably predicted its future, before moving on to the next one. (His dad was with him, flummoxed, as so often happens when he spends time with his Offspring ...) The Fayetteville police were totally cool about it.
We were going to the stable each week in those days, because Anoreth was taking riding lessons, and Pat knew to stay away from the rear ends.
Horse control is a function of training and a certain amount of luck.
I remember helping the Denver Mounted Police group train for the anticipated riots at the nomination convention. We tried to simulate everything from Hippies Behaving badly to the antics of the seriously stoned, to a barrage of chartreuse tennis balls.
In this case, I asked the officer who was te leader why, since the member of teh group were mostly conservative and were volunteering their horses, trailers, trucks, fuel etc - “Why not just let the trash trash the Democraps and the Democrapic Convention?”
His answer - Well, since you put it that way, .....
Salient point is that just because the rider is uniformed, do not assume the rider and horse have had extensive riot control training.
Not that volunteers can’t perform superbly - - - - - -but I’d suggest avoiding such animals in case they act out their ‘inner animal’.
Try to imagine you are made of meat, and everything wants to eat you. That is how horses see the world, and their evolutionarily acquired behavior reflects the adaptive advantage of flight when danger appears.
Your dog --> target practice.
Two crimes, both grossly overreached in their respective directions.
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