Story Archive

Monkey Business

Officer Keith Moore made what he thought was a routine traffic stop in Aransas Pass, Texas. But, as his sunglasses camera video shows, the routine ceased as he handed a ticket to Richard “T The Monkey Man” Spohrer: Spohrer’s monkey lunged from the back seat and attacked Moore’s hand. Moore, of course, called it in, but the sergeant had a hard time believing it. “A monkey? Like a legitimate monkey?” the sergeant asked. “Yeah, like a legitimate monkey,” Moore answered. Spohrer insists the monkey, a 13-year-old Capucin named April, is harmless — and toothless. The pair has been together for seven years, and Spohrer says she wouldn’t hurt a fly. “She knows she doesn’t have any teeth, but she also knows that if she takes your hand and sticks it in her mouth real quick, it makes your heart go ‘ba-boom ba-boom’,” he explained. There’s no word of other charges against the monkey, but Spohrer still got his speeding ticket. (MS/KRIS Corpus Christi) ...The monkey let the officer off with a warning.