Man charged with threatening police with python

Bridgeport police say they arrested a city man after he ordered his pet to attack two officers. Lucky for them that 9-foot-long pythons aren't very obedient. Police Lt. James Viadero says 21-year-old

News 12 Staff

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Jun 17, 2008, 6:29 PM

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Updated 6,036 days ago

Bridgeport police say they arrested a city man after he ordered his pet to attack two officers. Lucky for them that 9-foot-long pythons aren't very obedient.

Police Lt. James Viadero says 21-year-old Victor Rodriguez was charged with threatening police and disorderly conduct after Monday's incident. No one was hurt.

Officers were called to Rodriguez's apartment on a report that he was threatening his girlfriend with the pet reptile.

Viadero says that when the building superintendent opened the apartment door for the officers, Rodriguez allegedly threatened them with the snake and told it to "Get them!"

Rodriguez and his pet were both taken away: Rodriguez to jail on a $10,000 bond, and the albino python to the city's animal control shelter.

Animal control officers say that being a constrictor, the python could have squeezed one or both of the officers and hurt them.

?Some of the officers, I'm sure, they probably don't like snakes themselves,? says Bridgeport Animal Control Officer Mike Tubens. ?I don't think anybody wants a 9-foot python being thrown at you.?