Officer Finds Goat In Truck During Drunk Driving Call

A California Highway Patrol officer requested help from Riverside County Animal Services late Tuesday night after what he said he thought was going to be a routine DUI violation.

The officer pulled over a driver on suspicion of drunken driving near the corner of East Mayberry Avenue and Girard Street, south of Florida Avenue just outside the Hemet city limits, said Animal Services spokesman John Welsh.

The passenger of the pickup truck panicked when the truck came to a stop, and he bailed out and tried to run. Instead, he fell flat on his face, Welsh said.

When the officer approached the car, he noticed the driver had second passenger. A goat was sitting in the front seat of the truck.

Neither man claimed the female goat as his own animal, so Animal Services workers suspect the goat might have been stolen.

The names of the driver and passenger were not released, so it was not known if they were arrested.

The animal was taken to the Riverside shelter. It was resting comfortably there on Thursday.