Police arrest Nebraska man for breaking law with bull-riding shotgun in his car

A car carrying a bull has been pulled over by police in northeast Nebraska’s largest city.

Don’t worry, he didn’t lead.

Norfolk Police Captain Chad Reiman said it didn’t take long for officers to find the modified Ford Crown Victoria sedan with a shotgun after a 911 call about it driving on the main freeway entering in the city of around 24,000 on Wednesday morning.

“We didn’t have a full understanding of it until we saw it,” Reiman said.

The car that Lee Meyer has driven in parades through the region for years has half of the windshield and roof removed to make room for his bull, named Howdy Doody, to follow him. A yellow metal cattle gate serves as the passenger side door – allowing the Watusi bull to be tethered – and a set of long horns serves as the hood ornament.

“It wouldn’t go far unnoticed,” Reiman said.

A video of the traffic stop shot by News Channel Nebraska quickly spread online.

A sign on the side of Meyer’s car at a parade in Burwell late last month said Howdy Doody’s eye-catching ride was judged the best car entry at Nebraska’s Big Rodeo Parade.

Reiman said Meyer told him that when he went to that parade, he drove Howdy Doody in a proper trailer. So it was unclear why he decided to load the bull into his car on Wednesday and drive the 36 miles from his home at Neligh to Norfolk.

Reiman said Meyer was not going to a parade on Wednesday. Meyer did not answer his landline Thursday morning and therefore could not be contacted immediately for an explanation.

But his wife, Rhonda, told the Norfolk radio station which filmed the traffic stop video that Howdy Doody had been Meyer’s “friend and pal” since he had him eight or nine years.

Videos of Lee Meyer driving Howdy Doody can be easily found online from 2017 and 2019.

Rhonda Meyer told US92 that ‘Lee thinks he’s a movie star’ after his traffic stop video went viral, but he’s also a little shy.

Meyer said Howdy Doody is like family now, but she hasn’t always been crazy about how much her husband has spent on the bull over the years.

“With the amount of money he spent on this whole damn project between the car and the bull, I could have had a whole new kitchen,” Rhonda Meyer said.

Reiman said there were clearly traffic violations related to Meyer’s car, but the policeman let him go with a warning on the condition that he turn around and drive Howdy Doody home.

“We’ve never dealt with anything like this before.” Reiman said.