Man fled cops on mule, later released raccoon in bar he was banned from, KY cops say

Miami Herald

21 hours ago

A Kentucky man accused of taking police on a chase while riding a mule was arrested after police said he released a raccoon into a bar he was banned from.
Around 9:15 p.m. June 6, the Murray Police Department was called for reports of a man who intentionally released a raccoon into a business, according to a June 10 Facebook post by police.
Police found the 40-year-old man driving his car and pulled him over, but he refused to roll his window down for officers, police said. They then removed him from his vehicle, according to police.
Mary Hafner, a bartender who works at the business, told the New York Post the man had already been drinking when he showed up, and he was asked to leave since he was previously banned from the bar.
That's when the man decided to release the raccoon, police said.
'Apparently he had trapped a raccoon earlier in the day on his farm and he had been carrying it around with him,' Hafner told The Post.
Police learned the raccoon bit someone inside.
'It was more scared than anything,' Hafner told the New York Post. 'It was pretty upsetting for him.'
The man was arrested and charged with assault, criminal trespassing, resisting arrest and failure of owner to maintain required insurance.
The man was involved in an incident at the same bar in December involving a mule, according to WDKY.
On Dec. 7, police were called to the bar for an 'unruly individual,' a Dec. 9 Facebook post by police said.
The man was asked to leave but wouldn't, police said. When police arrived, the man was drunk and on a mule he had ridden to the bar, according to officers. Police ordered him to stop, but he refused, the release said.
Eventually, the man was arrested and witnesses told police they saw the man 'whip the mule at a different establishment an 'unnecessary amount' of times,' police said.
The man was taken to jail and the mule was stabled. However, two days later, the man showed up drunk to where the mule was stabled and began riding it down the street, police said.
Officers tried to stop him, but he took off on the mule and refused to stop, according to police. He was arrested.