Offensive language
A drunk student was arrested and spent the night in the cells after calling a police horse “gay”. Sam Brown of Balliol College, Oxford, saw two mounted policemen when he was leaving a nightclub. He allegedly shouted to one of the policemen “mate, your horse is gay, I hope you don’t have a problem with that”. The policeman warned Brown about his language but he followed the police down the street and continued to taunt them. Eventually he wore through their patience and after a chase around the streets of Oxford, during which a couple of squad cars were called for backup, Brown was arrested.
He maintains that calling the horse gay was not offensive and said the police overreacted when they deployed six officers, two “gigantic” horses and a couple of patrol cars to arrest him. However, the police are unamused and have issued a $187 fine for causing harassment, alarm and distress.