Three Men Accused Of Slapping Police Horse After Foo Fighters Concert At Wrigley Field
(CBS) -- Three men are accused of misdemeanor reckless conduct because Chicago Police say they slapped a police horse outside Wrigley Field two and a half weeks ago.
It was late on a Saturday night, Aug. 29, after the Foo Fighters concert.
People were leaving, including 38-year-old Brent Tinkham, a civil litigation attorney who lives in Wrigleyville.
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There was a huge crowd and a police officer on a horse working crowd control. Tinkham tells WBBM the horse was moving a little.
"I kind of stick out my right arm just to (say), 'Hey, whoa.' Not swinging my arm violently. Not slapping at a horse or anything of that nature. Just simply letting an animal that's moving - an 1,800-pound horse that I don't want to be stepped on or kicked by - that there's someone trying to get around it.
"And as I do so, within a second or two, some cop just grabs me and is screaming at me."
Asked whether alcohol was involved, Tinkham said, "I can tell you I had exactly two beers at the ballpark."
Tinkham says police were having a hard time with the large crowd and he says they were overzealous. He says he will fight the charge.
The other two men charged, he says he does not know: 23-year-old Michael Vaughn of Naperville and 38-year-old Oscar Ledezma of Chicago.
The horse the men are accused of slapping is Airhart, named in honor of Detective Joseph Airhart who was shot in 2001 and died in 2008.
