Officer’s joke about ‘narcotics-smelling’ horse panics suspect, leading to chase, arrest

LUBBOCK, Texas ( KCBD /Gray News) - In Texas, police officers on horseback chased down a suspect who ran after taking a joke about a “narcotics-smelling” horse way too seriously.

Officers Bryson Lewis and William Trotter with the Lubbock Police Department’s Mounted Patrol Unit were assisting with a routine patrol last Monday afternoon when they stopped a man for walking in the road, rather than on the sidewalk.

The officers, who were on horseback, believed the man was acting suspicious and began to wonder whether he was in possession of illegal drugs. Body camera footage shows an officer asking the man whether they can check his pockets, to which he says no.

Body camera footage released from a foot-traffic stop is earning the Lubbock Police Department’s Mounted Patrol Unit attention f