Ian Beckles, a Tampa sports talk radio host and former Buccaneer, was arrested late Thursday night after a disagreement on horse-touching and traffic signals. Police observed Beckles swaying and slurring his speech while walking into traffic. The cops talked to Beckles and were ready to send him on his way, but when you’re a former professional athlete who gets paid to talk, you don’t just walk away. From the Tampa Bay Times:

When police told Beckles he could go after “educating him” on the importance of pedestrian traffic signals, Beckles slapped an officer on the back and said, “Okay, tough guy,” police said.

He continued to heckle officers until he was asked to return to the sidewalk, police said. Then Beckles moved toward an officer on horseback and was told to stay away.

He moved from that horse and toward another, police said.

Another officer began to yell, “Don’t touch the horse! Don’t touch the horse!”

Beckles touched the horse, police said.

That is a flawless punchline to that story. Bravo. He was released 3 hours later and was on the radio Friday. Beckles played 7 seasons with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers during the 1990′s. Following his NFL career, he went into broadcasting and currently co-hosts “620 The Sports Animal” on WDAE with Ron Diaz. (That’s the same station Dan Sileo worked for before getting canned for calling free agents monkeys.)

[Tampa Bay Times via SportsRantz]