Emily Gurnon, Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn. –
An Iowa resident was charged with assaulting a police horse after he allegedly slapped a horse’s hindquarters outside Patrick McGovern’s Pub in St. Paul on St. Patrick’s Day.
Joey Lynn Mathahs, 39, of Thompson, Iowa, struck the horse “in front of a very large crowd,” a citation noted.
Police said the uninjured horse remained calm.
The incident took place about midnight Saturday, March 17.
Mathahs was booked into the Ramsey County jail and posted bail. He could not be reached for comment.
He was ordered to appear in court June 19.
Assaulting a police horse is a misdemeanor.
Mathahs may have been taking part in an unseemly trend. An Atlanta-area man reportedly was arrested the same day for slapping the rear of a police horse during the holiday festivities.
Other St. Patrick’s Day miscreants in St. Paul included an intoxicated man who allegedly was “grabbing women” and “constantly bumping into people in a threatening manner” inside Burger Moe’s, across the street from Patrick McGovern’s on West Seventh Street, according to a police report and Sgt. Paul Paulos, police spokesman.
David Wayne Smith, 25, of Burnsville was arrested at 10:40 p.m. after police used a chemical agent on him, the police report said. He had not been charged as of 3 p.m. Monday, March 19.
Overall, Paulos said, St. Patrick’s Day in St. Paul “was nice and festive, other than a few isolated incidents.”
Richard Chin and Mara H. Gottfried contributed to this report.