Getting kicked out of your favorite bar is never fun.
Most people would just find another place to drink.
And a Kentucky man known as ‘Cowboy Cody’ unleashed one furry surprise that had a restaurant in total chaos.
A night that started simple turned into pure chaos
Jonathan Mason has earned quite the reputation around Murray, Kentucky.
The 40-year-old farmer goes by “Cowboy Cody” among locals who know him all too well.
Mason’s been stirring up trouble at area bars for years with increasingly wild behavior.
But his latest escapade at The Big Apple Grill and Bar broke new ground in the crazy department.
Mason rolled up to the restaurant Friday night already well into his cups.
The establishment had banned him previously over what staff called a “drunken mule incident.”
Bartender Mary Hafner figured she could smooth things over when Mason wandered inside.
She’s worked at The Big Apple for five years and thought Mason might listen to her.
“I came out from around the bar and asked him nicely to leave,” Hafner told The New York Post.
Mason’s response showed his true colors right away.
“He said to me, ‘oh I see how it is, they sent a pretty face out here to distract me,'” Hafner recounted.
At first, Mason seemed ready to cooperate and head for the exit.
Hafner breathed a sigh of relief thinking she’d avoided a major scene.
That relief didn’t last long.
The furry surprise nobody expected
Mason disappeared briefly but came back with backup.
Four-legged backup with a mask and a serious attitude problem.
Police say Mason had captured a raccoon earlier that day on his property.
Instead of releasing the wild animal back into nature, Mason decided to use it as a weapon.
The terrified raccoon found itself thrust into a crowded restaurant full of confused customers.
“It was more scared than anything,” Hafner told The Post about the unwilling participant in Mason’s revenge plot.
Chaos erupted as the frightened critter scrambled between tables and chairs.
Video footage captured the mayhem as restaurant staff tried to wrangle the wild animal.
One employee ignored Hafner’s warnings and attempted to grab the raccoon by its tail.
That decision backfired spectacularly.
The panicked animal sank its teeth into the worker’s hand.
The bite victim had to undergo a series of painful rabies shots as a precaution.
Meanwhile, Hafner kept her composure during the madness unfolding around her.
The Kentucky native managed to coax the raccoon onto a chair before wrapping it in a towel.
“I’m no city slicker,” Hafner explained to The Post. “I’m a Kentucky girl. I had no problem catching him.”
She successfully removed the animal from the premises while other staff dealt with the aftermath.
Cowboy Cody’s history of animal troubles
This raccoon rampage wasn’t Mason’s first dance with law enforcement over animal-related incidents.
Just months earlier, Mason made headlines for leading police on two separate drunken chases.
His vehicle of choice made the incidents even more bizarre.
Mason conducted both high-speed pursuits while riding a mule through Murray’s streets.
The December drama started when Big Apple employees called police about Mason allegedly whipping the animal in their parking lot.
On December 7, Mason led officers on his first mule chase.
Police arrested him but apparently didn’t learn his lesson.
Two days later on December 9, Mason repeated the same stunt with another drunken mule pursuit.
The repeat performance showed Mason’s pattern of escalating bad behavior.
His Friday night raccoon attack represented a new low in his ongoing war with local establishments.
Justice catches up with the masked bandit’s accomplice
Mason’s raccoon revenge plot crumbled when police tracked him down later that evening.
True to form, he refused to cooperate with officers trying to question him.
Mason wouldn’t exit his vehicle or roll down the windows for police.
His defiant attitude only added more charges to his growing legal troubles.
Officers eventually arrested Mason and transported him to the Calloway County Jail.
The Murray Police Department hit him with multiple charges including third-degree criminal trespass and second-degree assault.
He also faces resisting arrest and failure to maintain insurance violations.
The assault charge stems from the employee who required rabies treatment after the raccoon bite.
Mason lives alone on a farm outside Murray and has become a familiar face to local law enforcement.
His pattern of alcohol-fueled incidents involving animals shows a disturbing trend.
The Big Apple Grill and Bar had good reason to ban Mason before his latest stunt.
Hafner thought her personal rapport with Mason might help defuse the situation peacefully.
Instead, Mason chose to escalate a simple trespassing issue into multiple felony charges.
His bizarre revenge plot endangered innocent customers and staff members.
The terrified raccoon became an unwilling weapon in Mason’s vendetta against the restaurant.
One employee suffered painful medical treatment because of his selfish actions.
Mason’s childish response to being banned shows how some people handle rejection.
Instead of finding another bar or addressing his drinking problem, he chose chaos and violence.
His actions turned what should have been a quiet Friday night into a wildlife emergency.