If you are a police officer in the city of Paterson, you are prepared to encounter any number of difficult and potentially dangerous situations. But you are probably not completely prepared to encounter a bull on the loose.
But a bull on the loose was exactly what Paterson officers had on their hands Monday morning, when a 1,400-pound bull ran along East 7th Street.
The bull was being unloaded from a truck into ENA Meat Packing Inc. on East Fifth Street when he broke loose just before 8:30 AM, according to a report by The Record of Bergen County.
The driver of a cattle truck opened a side door to the truck to push the bull out the back of the vehicle, but the beast instead pushed back and was able to run out the door. He trotted from the slaughterhouse toward River Street with a crowd of meat packing workers chasing behind him.
Freedom has a universal appeal.
Slaughterhouse workers and police then tried to corral the beast cowboy-style, using a rope to lasso the bull, but the animal dragged more than five officers and workers behind him like an extra-large dog on a walk.
Now there’s an image!
Finally, police were able to wrap the rope around a light post and the city’s animal control officer was able to inject the bull with a sedative, which took about three or four minutes to kick in and knock out the animal.
"Police did a fantastic job corralling him," the animal control officer said.
