Rodeo on the highway: Bulls escape cattle truck

Law enforcement officers are used to dealing with danger. But we're willing to bet Sgt. Richard LaLonde of the Alachua County Sheriff's Office never expected to be going toe-to-hoof with an escaped bull on the Florida interstate.

The chaos began when a cattle truck carrying 32 bulls blew a tire on Saturday. Several bulls escaped and began rampaging across the highway. LaLonde relayed his adventure to the Gainesville Sun. The bull "hit the ground and came up not in a good mood," LaLonde said. "When I saw that, I thought, ‘This ain't good.'"

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Truer words were never spoken. LaLonde arrived at the scene, hoping to keep the bulls from injuring drivers. Mission accomplished. However, a bull did manage to get the drop on the sergeant (see 1:03 in video above). "You know when someone's yelling your name, and you know it's not good?" LaLonde told the Gainesville Sun, referencing the moment a deputy tried to warn LaLonde that a bull was heading right for him. Too late. LaLonde turned but couldn't get out of the way. "I got handled," he said. "That bull took my lunch money." He joked that he "can check rodeo clown off my bucket list." The footage shows another bull charged a trooper, who was forced to jump over his car "Dukes of Hazzard" style.

LaLonde escaped with minor injuries ("bruised ribs, a bruised elbow and a bruised knee," he told WESH), but others weren't so lucky. The driver of the truck and his passenger were both injured, and the bull that attacked LaLonde was shot and killed.

"There's no one there happy that the bull got shot," LaLonde said. "We were trying to prevent loss of life not only on our own part but the life of the animals as well."