From Chicago’s CBS2 (link courtesy Jon Solomon) :
œBenny the Bull — the Chicago Bulls team mascot — was arrested Sunday afternoon for hitting an off-duty Cook County Sheriff’s deputy at the Taste of Chicago, according to police.
Barry Anderson, 26, also known as œBenny the Bull, was cited with driving on a sidewalk and charged with battery, a misdemeanor, while at Grant Park, 700 S. Columbus Dr., about 6:30 p.m. Sunday, according to police News Affairs Officer Laura Kubiak.
Anderson was working as œBenny and driving a mini-motorcycle without permission of the Chicago Park District or the City of Chicago when police approached him and he drove off, Kubiak said.
An off-duty county deputy, who was working security at the event, grabbed Anderson, who began swinging his arms, Kubiak said. He struck the deputy, breaking his glasses and watch, Kubiak said. Police apprehended Anderson and took him into custody for processing, and he was later released, she added.
Anderson is not the first “Benny the Bull” to get in trouble with the law. In January 2004, Chicago police arrested Chester Brewer on suspicion of selling marijuana out of his car. They also reportedly found a scale and plastic baggies inside Brewer’s Cabrini-Green apartment.