A man has been arrested after punching a horse following England’s World Cup semi-final defeat to Croatia.
Avon and Somerset Police were patrolling the streets of Weston-super-Mare during and after Wednesday night’s match, along with police horses Quantock and Jubilee.
The force said that after dealing with a disorder at the end of the match, a man assaulted an officer and punched Quantock three times.
Our beautiful Boys Jubilee & Quantock on their way home from @ASPWSM after dealing with disorder at the end of #England game. Male arrested for assault PC. Also arrested criminal damage for punching Quantock #NeverAcceptable to assault officers or animals! #QuantockisnotHurt pic.twitter.com/xPd8IYiFsC
— ASPoliceHorses (@ASPoliceHorses) July 11, 2018
The 23-year-old-man was arrested on suspicion of assaulting a police officer and criminal damage for punching the horse.
Later, the force tweeted a picture of the two horses in their paddock.
Quantock & Jubilee are out in the paddock this morning, chilling and doing what they love the most.. Eating. ??Quantock is well and we hope our colleagues who were assaulted last night are ok this morning too. ?♂️ pic.twitter.com/vdexMQKtRS
— ASPoliceHorses (@ASPoliceHorses) July 12, 2018
A force spokesman said both Quantock and the officer were “fine”.
Chief Inspector John Holt said: “This type of behaviour is totally unacceptable and we will ensure all those involved in this disorder will be dealt with robustly.
“In particular, I would condemn in the strongest terms the individual who punched a police horse, which was there to ensure the safety of those enjoying the match.
“While England’s heroes won the pride and respect of everyone in Russia, these individuals have let themselves down and should be ashamed to call themselves fans.”
