Police: Man struck police horses, officers after being told not to pee in public
AUSTIN, Texas (FOX 7 Austin) - A man was arrested in the early morning hours Saturday after Austin police say he struck two police horses and two mounted officers after an officer told him to stop peeing in public.
Luis Rios Flores, 20, was arrested June 8 and charged with interference with police service animal, a Class A misdemeanor.
According to an arrest affidavit, an officer responded on foot to the 500 block of Neches Street around 2:09 a.m. to an officer urgently requesting back up. When he arrived on scene, he found five APD mounted officers on their horses, two of them detaining Flores by holding him by the arms.
According to one of the mounted officers, while riding, he observed Flores peeing in public and told him to stop. He didn't and instead began cursing at the officers, says the affidavit, and the officer moved closer to tell him again to stop. Flores finished, and when mounted officers arrived, he hit the first officer's horse in the head with his hand, causing the officer to lose control of his horse momentarily.
The mounted officers told Flores he was under arrest and moved to detain him by holding his arms. Before they were able to successfully, Flores took a swing at another horse, missing, and punched an officer in the hand and another in the thigh, and hit a third horse on the side.
According to the affidavit, Flores was additionally charged with resisting arrest. Bond was set at $2,500.