The Associated Press via The Virginian-Pilot
BILLINGS, Mont. — A construction worker who tried to help police corral a runaway cow said the bovine charged at him “like a bull at a rodeo,” tossing him into the air before continuing its rampage through the streets of Montana’s largest city.
The snorting, charging cow ran amok in downtown Billings on Tuesday for more than an hour and a half, terrifying pedestrians and knocking over a bicyclist until a police sniper fired a single shot through its heart.
Morgan Logan of Acton suffered broken bones in his lower leg and had sore ribs after his encounter with the 1,200-pound black Angus cow after it escaped from the Public Auction Yards on Tuesday afternoon, The Billings Gazette reported.
Logan, 52, said he was driving a gravel truck when he saw police chasing the animal and decided to try to help.
“I’ve been around livestock my whole life, so at first sight, I thought it was pretty funny seeing cops chase a cow down the street,” Logan said. “But she was like a bull at a rodeo.”
The cow charged at him from under a tree, said Logan, who was released from the hospital Wednesday.
“I guess I saw her too late because the next thing I knew, I was in the air,” he said. “I had no fence to climb, she caught me right in the open."Billings police Lt. Kevin Iffland said by the time Logan encountered the cow, it had already tipped over a bicyclist, charged pedestrians and nearly jumped over a police vehicle.
Auction yard manager Bob Cook said the cow’s carcass was taken to the city landfill.
Copyright 2012 Virginian-Pilot Companies LLC
All Rights Reserved