Kellarly
10-03-2005, 12:32
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4334877.stm
Nice one on the donkey...and what was the police chief thinking?!?! Arrest a mule...yeah way to go.... :D
A donkey has been released after being detained for three days as a suspect in a road traffic accident in Colombia.
Police held on to Pacho after a motorcyclist crashed into him in the north-eastern town of Arauca on Sunday.
Local police chief Diana Rojas justified the unusual arrest saying a "man was injured".
Since his brush with the law, which has sparked a national debate on animal rights, Pacho has become a Colombian television star.
The accident occurred as Pacho was returning to the stable after a day's work with his owner Nelson Gonzalez.
The animal was involved in a collision with the motorcycle, resulting in injuries to his head and right hoof.
The motorcyclist was seriously injured in the accident and was hospitalised.
Mr Gonzalez, 50, insisted his donkey was not to blame.
He said he went to visit Pacho every day at the pound and complained that he was not being fed sufficiently.
"This is a violation of the animal's integrity," said Alvaro Merchan, a local human rights lawyer, who objected to Pacho's conditions of detention.
"In this case, neither the law, nor the proper conditions of detention were respected," he told the French news agency AFP.
Ms Rojas said Pacho was released on Wednesday after investigators decided his detention served no further purpose.
To add insult to injury, Mr Gonzalez was required to pay about 9,000 pesos ($4) to cover the costs at the pound.
"I want to thank everybody who supported me," said Mr Gonzalez after Pacho was released.
Nice one on the donkey...and what was the police chief thinking?!?! Arrest a mule...yeah way to go.... :D
A donkey has been released after being detained for three days as a suspect in a road traffic accident in Colombia.
Police held on to Pacho after a motorcyclist crashed into him in the north-eastern town of Arauca on Sunday.
Local police chief Diana Rojas justified the unusual arrest saying a "man was injured".
Since his brush with the law, which has sparked a national debate on animal rights, Pacho has become a Colombian television star.
The accident occurred as Pacho was returning to the stable after a day's work with his owner Nelson Gonzalez.
The animal was involved in a collision with the motorcycle, resulting in injuries to his head and right hoof.
The motorcyclist was seriously injured in the accident and was hospitalised.
Mr Gonzalez, 50, insisted his donkey was not to blame.
He said he went to visit Pacho every day at the pound and complained that he was not being fed sufficiently.
"This is a violation of the animal's integrity," said Alvaro Merchan, a local human rights lawyer, who objected to Pacho's conditions of detention.
"In this case, neither the law, nor the proper conditions of detention were respected," he told the French news agency AFP.
Ms Rojas said Pacho was released on Wednesday after investigators decided his detention served no further purpose.
To add insult to injury, Mr Gonzalez was required to pay about 9,000 pesos ($4) to cover the costs at the pound.
"I want to thank everybody who supported me," said Mr Gonzalez after Pacho was released.