NEW YORK – A cowboy who tied up traffic by riding a horse across a busy bridge connecting New York City and New Jersey says he is traversing the country to raise money and awareness for child hunger.
Tod Mishler, 80, was followed across the Outerbridge Crossing on Monday by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey police.
Once he was safely across the bridge, officers issued him two criminal court summonses, for trespassing and impeding traffic.
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A video shot by a motorist showed Mishler sporting a cowboy hat, a brown vest and a red kerchief and riding quickly toward Staten Island. New Jersey-bound traffic slowed as motorists stopped to watch. The rider held the reins of the second horse laden down with bags.
“My dream is to ride across the country and let the people know that we have the money to feed every starving child in the world,” Mishler told WCBS-TV.
Mishler, who goes by Doc, said that he hadn’t paid any toll for riding across the bridge on his horse and that he had been on his way to a corral in Queens.
He said didn’t have any ill-will toward authorities for the summonses.
“The police are always here to serve and protect all across the law,” he said.
Mishler, of Ulster Park, New York, has earned both admirers and critics for his horse-riding endeavors.