West Caln Township Police Recall Wild Chase After Runaway Mules
By Ray Boyd
WEST CALN TOWNSHIP, Pa. (CBS) -- As a police officer, you see a lot of crazy things. When you wake up for your shift, you never know what will be waiting for you.
Four officers in West Caln Township probably couldn't have guessed who they would be chasing on Thursday. How about two mules?
Chief Curt A. Martinez along with officers Justin Heiney, Joel Stoltzfus, and Joe Waldron, spent a portion of their Thursday hot on the trail of two runaway mules. There's proof you really don't know what you're going to see as an officer.
"That's what I love about being a police officer for 27 years," Martinez said to CBSPhilly.com. "You never know what you're going to get."
On Thursday morning, Martinez received a call about two mules out for a stroll down the road. Martinez and his officers checked with several Amish farms in the area and none were reporting missing mules.
Martinez and his officers decided to then enlist the help of a local farmer who joined their group in the pursuit of the two mules.
The officers went on what Martinez described as a "wild horse chase," for about an hour. "We're going through yards; going through fields. We think have them surrounded. They'd get away from us. They're like laughing at us."
Finally, the officers were able to surround the two mules after they covered about a mile and a half. The farmer who helped the officers took the mules back to his farm and as of when Martinez left for the day, the actual owner had not yet been found.
Martinez described the two sides of the police business: the bad incidents that they often have to respond to and the stories like this that draw a laugh and a smile. "That's the fun part of police work," Martinez said.