New York Post – by Kevin Sheehan and Philip Messing
It was “The Good, The Bad and the Crazy” on Staten Island Monday.
An elderly man on a horse turned a city bridge into the Pecos Trail when he rode his mount across the busy span in the middle of the day and brought traffic to a halt.
Motorists looked on in amazement as they were forced to make way for Tod “Doc” Mishler, 80, who rode his steed, Charity 2, over the Outerbridge Crossing at 11 a.m.
Mishler, wearing a cowboy hat and red bandanna, was also leading a second horse with a rope during his stunt, which he said was part of a self-styled charity ride for kids.
“I’ve been across the US three times,” Mishler told The Post. “I [have] tried to let people know that there is enough food to feed all the hungry children in this country.”
Mishler, of Ulster Park, north of Poughkeepsie, said he rides to raise awareness for Church Communities International. He hit a roadblock in 2011 when he was arrested and charged with failing to provide adequate food for the animals, according to the Wisconsin State Journal. The charges were later dropped.
His travels almost came to a dead end when he tried to enter the Big Apple via the city’s southernmost bridge.
Some motorists posted his antics on Twitter, while others called 911.
Port Authority cops used a patrol car to escort Mishler and his horses toward the Staten Island tollbooths, where they checked him for warrants.
Mishler cited “federal law” as giving him the right to mosey along on horseback over bridges. But cops cited him for trespassing and impeding traffic.
“The police were very helpful. I couldn’t make it across the country without all the police,” he said.
When a PA police official was asked how the rider and horses were able to get through the toll plaza on the New Jersey side without police stopping him there, he quipped, “He went through the EZ-OATS lane.”
After receiving his summonses and having his horses watered, Mishler continued his ride along the Staten Island Expressway, which is legal for the critters.
He hinted that he was headed toward the Verrazano Bridge, although there were no reports of drivers there having to hold their horses to slow down for the cowpoke.
Additional reporting by Danielle Furfaro
http://nypost.com/2016/06/27/horseback-rider-causes-major-traffic-jam-on-bridge/
HE GOT DA “OLETIMERS”…UH HUH……………..ALL DEM POLICE HEPPIN HIM LIKE THAT……………..
“The police were very helpful. I couldn’t make it across the country without all the police,” he said.”
They’re only here to help, oldtimer.,
They’ll likely help you into a FEMA camp or a ditch before much longer, too.