A tank rolled through a residential neighborhood in Phoenix, Arizona, along with a SWAT team, armored vehicles, and because you can never be too careful, a bomb robot. So, what could have prompted such a
show of force? A Mexican cartel beheading Arizonians in West Valley? An al Qadea cell, plotting a terrorist attack on Russell Pearce? Nope:
Sheriff Joe Arpaio rolled out the tanks to take down a man suspected of cockfighting.
Suspected. Of cockfighting. Really.
On the bright side, Sheriff Joe, who isn't called the "toughest sheriff in America" for nothing, did make an arrest:
[Jesus] Llovera was alone in the house at the time of the arrest, and he was unarmed.
Of course Llovera wasn't really alone or unarmed. He did have 115 chickens who were allegedly trained to kill (they—the chickens, not Jesus—were "euthanized on the spot").
So, where does Steven Seagal come into all this? He was along for the ride:
Seagal was riding in the tank.
The Sheriff’s Department has entered into a contract with Seagal and part of that contract gives Seagal carte blanche to go along with the sheriff as he arrests people.
... and apparently, while he kills chickens.
And while Llovera has "no history of owning weapons," Arpaio's office defended the action that reportedly cost tens of thousands of dollars, saying:
We're going to err on the side of caution. We're going to make sure that we have the appropriate amount of force in case we do run into anything like that.
Tank. SWAT team. Armored vehicles. Bomb robot. Versus Jesus and 115 chickens. Sounds appropriate.