Tacoma police officers helped catch some runaways Wednesday morning in the city's South End. Standard handcuffs couldn't have been much help with these escapees, as police were wrangling 10 horses that ran off from a property.
Police were called about 8:11 a.m. to East McKinley Avenue for a report of horses on the loose in the 7600 block and possibly as far south as 86th Street, according to Tacoma Police Department. Officers found horses trotting along the roadway and at least one behind someone's residence.
Some of the horses ran between cars, causing traffic backups for about half an hour while officers and the animals' owners worked to get them under control. Police spokesperson Wendy Haddow said officers helped herd the horses in the right direction while the owners lured them home with buckets of grain.
"They got in touch with their inner cowboy," Haddow said.
The horses had escaped a property near 7800 McKinley Avenue after someone cut the lock to the animal's gate, Haddow said. Officers don't know who cut them loose.
A photo shared by police on Twitter showed a horse moving down the road with an officer pursuing on foot.
