Fox 5's Mike Sheehan Arrested After Hitting A Mounted Cop

2009_03_mikehorse.jpg Fox 5 senior correspondent Mike Sheehan was arrested last night "after a traffic accident involving his car and an NYPD officer on a horse," his own station reports. The incident occurred at North Moore Street in Tribeca at 10:26 p.m.—the Post say says Sheehan "slammed his car into a police horse" that was going against the traffic. The Post and Fox 5 are both owned by the News Corp.

Sheehan, who retired as a NYPD detective in 1993, allegedly refused to submit to a sobriety. "He was arrested and charged with causing an injury to a police animal and failing to take a Breathalyzer test," according to the Post. The police officer had an injury on his leg and the police horse "bolted from the crash scene and was found about a block away with minor injuries to its right leg and chest." Aw.

Sheehan was released on his own recognizance and Fox 5 says its management "is aware of the matter and is reviewing it." Earlier this month, Sheehan told the Daily News, "When I go back to lecture [police groups], the first question I get is always, 'How the hell did a homicide detective like yourself make the switch?' The two jobs are similar. You're going up and down the same stairs. You're still searching for the truth."

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HORSES SHOULD NOT BE ON CITY STREETS! HOW MANY HAVE TO BE INJURED OR KILLED? IT'S BARBARIC.

I hope he is locked for a LONG time. I hate drunk drivers and I hate these NYC carriage drivers who are getting away with so much cruelty. those horses are worked to death and some are discarded. these drivers don't have respect for anyone.

Uuuuh, you realize this wasn't a carriage horse or driver right? Read the article, hell, read the headline, don't just look at the pretty pictures.

BTW, I think cops on horses in NYC is a bunch of crap. What purpose do they serve exactly?

if you think they don't serve any purposes then does carriage horses should be ban. I don't agree with police horses as well but at least they have mandatory retirement home and their stable has a rink for them to socialize and run around. Those carriage horses have it 100 times worse than police horses.

Dude, we get it, you hate the carriage horse industry, good for you, but again it's real simple:

A) Read the blog post and the linked articles.
B) Think of a comment related to said blog post and articles contained within said links.
C) Write it in the blank box below.
D) Press the "submit" button.

Easy!

It is related, carriage horses don't belong in NYC and this accident along with many other other accidents confirms that carriage horses don't belong in NYC. It is inhumane and perverse.

God, it's like banging my head against a wall.

For the record I think carriage horses and the silly bastards in top hats driving people around Central Park should stop, but I don't want to be associated with the cement-headed likes of you.

And hey presto, suddenly this freaking conversation is about the carriage horse industry when the article has nothing to do with freaking carriage horses. Hooray, you win. Ugh.

it has to do with horses and traffic in NYC, how is it not related?

There's really not much a cop on a horse can do that a cop on a bike can't. Wish NYPD would come out of the 19th century mentality.

An officer on a horse has the same vision in a crowd
as a ten foot tall man. That is the benefit.

Those colored shirts with the white collar are so guido.

Pretty sure Sheehan's an Irish surname.

Yeah, like only Italians can dress like guidos.

I believe he's one of the central park jogger detectives.
karma strikes again.

Who was going the wrong way? The policeman? If that's so, why was he arrested? And you can't be arrested for refusing a breathalizer text, right?

I'm almost 100% sure if you refuse a breathilizer your auotmatically arrested otherwise that would be a really stupied loop hole and no one would ever get a DWI.

An officer on a horse can do far more than on a bike. They are mainly used for crowd control. And yes, you can be arrested for refusal of a breathalyzer, its called probable cause, plus its an automatic 12 month suspension, which is done at arraignment.

You say he can do a lot more then give only one thing. What else? Can a horse make its way down a city sidewalk in an emergency without trampling pedestrians? Can a horse squeeze between cars in stopped traffic? Can a horse make its way up to a suspect without being heard? Seems to me that what you're saying is that it's a one-trick pony (pun intended). NYPD horses have been spooked before, throwing their riders to the ground. They cost a lot of money to feed and shelter. Frankly, the few times they may be needed for crowd control isn't worth all their drawbacks. This isn't an episode of McCloud.

Not to mention a bike cop (usually) doesn't leave piles of steaming dung on city streets.

I believe it is in the opening scene of True Lies that Arnold Schwarzenegger shows us the real potential of catching bad guys on horse-back. He jumped from the rooftop of one building to the rooftop of another! Show me a cop on a bike that can do that.

Your statement that there's not much a cop on a horse can do that one on a bike can't can not be backed up with a list of things that a cop on a horse can't do that one on a bike can. Sorry, just a total failure of logic there.

Yes, there are things that can be done on a bike that can't be done on horseback. There are things that can be done on horseback that can't be done on a bike. There are things that can only be done by a cop in a car, things best done by one on a motorcycle, and things best done by a cop on foot. None of those strengths and weaknesses complete an argument against the appropriate use of any of those means of deployment.

My apologies for injecting logic and reason into this ridiculousness.

What I wrote was that there isn't much that a horse cop can do that a bike cop can't. I'm asking for more than just crowd control, the only example they that Rolltide came up with. If you know more, by all means, mention them. If you can't come up with any more, then what was the point of replying? There is no "appropriate use" of horseback cops in normal everyday patrols, IMHO. They stink up the place, take up a lot of room on stables and on streets, cost a lot of money for procurement and care, and for what? Answer me that. More than half the police departments in the US have bike patrols, and yes, many have motorcycle patrols. Very few have horse patrols, including cities and towns far less urban than NYC. Maybe there are some good reasons there.

Based on what I've read about the horses, and in seeing them out in public, the reasons NYPD likes them are pretty vague touchy-feely things.

- great PR
- the presence of a horse gets a lot of attention, and its vaguely intimidating and distracting. Cops have said that people just act differently around them.
- must be a fun assignment

These may not be good reasons when you consider the cost.

The officer can see further than if he were on a bike.

"You're going up and down the same stairs. You're still searching for the truth."

He's certainly going down those stairs...on a banana peel.

Lock this drunk up and throw the keys away.

Horses are definitely worth it for crowd control, but you never see them in Soho on the weekends, which is in the first precinct.

Sheehan is a fine Irish lad. His father owned a bar and I thought he swore off the drink himself.

He was the detective that broke the "Preppy murder" case, and had Chambers confess.

"No sir, I didn't like it."
- Mr. Horse

Hope the horse is okay though.

Wondering why we still have mounted police? It's in case we need protection. If the Indians decide to ride down from Long Island, they will attack us with their tomahawks and try to steal Manhattan!

Earlier this month, Sheehan told the Daily News, "When I go back to lecture [police groups], the first question I get is always, 'How the hell did a homicide detective like yourself make the switch?' The two jobs are similar. You're going up and down the same stairs. You're still an asshole who thinks he's above the law."

Mike was probably drunk when he said that.

No need for mounted police because Spirit of 76 said so. What a flapping douchepelican

I see S76 has added a few more members to his fan club.

Well Little League is opening this weekend, so he will probably be busy playing baseball rather than antagonizing the world.

Mike Sheehan was arrested for mounting a cop?
That's an outrage.
What? Mounted policeman? Not mounting one?
That's very different. Never mind!
-Emily Litella

Knowing Mike personally, I doubt that mounting a cop would be in his vocabulary of after hours sports. Unless of course it was a cute little young Irish female cop.

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