A bull aggressively flipped two people into the air and charged a third Saturday night as a game called “cowboy pinball” unfolded at a rodeo in Owensboro, Kentucky, according to news reports.
The event at Bull Bash featured players standing in designated spots in the rodeo ring as a loose bull rambled around. The object was to grab a $100 bill attached to the bull’s body, The Owensboro Times reported.
A video of the event first shows a white bull that seemed more interested in leaving the ring than interacting with the participants. Eventually, that bull was taken out and a much more feisty brown bull was released.
That’s when the trouble ensued. The bull flipped two men and charged another, pinning him against the fence, according to a video posted on YouTube. The crowd fell silent, according to the newspaper.
At least two of the participants required medical treatment, The Owensboro Times reported.
A woman who identified herself only as Katie told WEHT that she and other participants signed a waiver saying that rodeo organizers would not be held responsible for injury or death. She also said contestants had been coached not to wave at the bull or turn their backs on the animal.
Chan Carter, president of the Southern Extreme Bull Riding Association, said in a statement to WEHT that “people enter the bull poker or cowboy pinball knowing it’s dangerous. That’s what they are at the event for, to either watch or participate in something they find thrilling.”
SEBRA, the promoter of Bull Bash, told USA Today that another organization, Ernie Treadway Rodeo Co., was responsible for the cowboy pinball event. That company didn’t answer the newspaper’s request for comment.