I guess if you’re going to be detained for something ridiculous like taking photos in a public place, there should be something extra ridiculous involved — like cows.

While on assignment for the school paper, The Lantern, Ohio State photographer Alex Kotran was shooting two cows that had gotten loose on some athletic fields, but the police and some agriculture department employees were insistent he didn’t have a right to be there. A campus police officer told him it was dangerous and asked him to leave. When he didn’t, he was handcuffed, detained and charged with a misdemeanor for trespassing.

“He told me I was under arrest,” Kotran said. “I advised him that I was on public property, and he started talking about Supreme Court cases and stuff.”

Kotran said he was detained “for about 10 minutes.” Linton went through his pockets to get his wallet. The officer needed identification to write a report.

Three are three things that are unbelievable about this: 1) he was on assignment as a photojournalist; 2) this took place on not only public property, but at a public institution — one that’s funded by taxpayers and students, including Alex Kotran!; and 3) he was taking photos of cows.

(On a side note, on The Lantern’s original article about the cows’ escape, there is a poll asking readers “Are you afraid of another cow attack?” At the time of this post, it was — amazingly — split down the middle.)

Read the whole account at The Lantern