A herd of cows ran a suspect straight into the hands of police after the suspect fled to a nearby field where the cows were in Sanford, Florida.
Police were in pursuit of a white Subaru with a stolen license plate before the apprehension, on Aug. 6. They attempted to stop the vehicle with spike strips, which were ineffective, the Orlando Sentinel reported.
The vehicle eventually crashed at an intersection. Jennifer Kaufman ran out and straight into the cow pasture. The cows can be seen in police video running after her.
“I think they didn’t realize who they were,” said Richard Kondracki, the owner of the pasture where the cows reside, via News 6. “They panicked. The cows were nervous. That would make me panic—if all those big cows come running at you. They didn’t know them. They don’t know if they’re there to hurt them, or steal one of the babies.”
The driver of the stolen vehicle also tried to flee but was found by police K-9s in bushes. Another passenger stayed in the vehicle and was arrested at the scene of the crash. Kaufman was caught when she climbed through a fence to exit the cow pasture, News 6 reported.
The Seminole County Sheriff’s Office posted video to its Facebook of the cows chasing after the suspect. Authorities are heard in the video saying that to find the suspect, just locate the large group of cows following her.
Kondracki said he has never seen the cows act aggressively, but thinks they may have thought their young were in danger.
“You don’t want to mess with it—any animal, whether it’s a cow, an elephant, or a cat. You don’t mess with the babies,” he said, via News 6.
Kaufman and the vehicle’s driver, Jamie Young, were arrested on drug possession, resisting arrest, trespassing, and petit theft, News 6 reported. According to the Orlando Sentinel, police recovered cocaine and drug paraphernalia from the vehicle.