ELLENVILLE – We've heard of 'Dog Bites Man,' and even 'Man Bites Dog,' but what about 'Man Barks at Dog, Causes Car Accident'?

This bizarre set of circumstances all happened last Thursday when officers with the Ellenville Police Department pulled over a car for running a stop sign.

"There were four occupants in [the car], late-teens, early 20s," said Ellenville Police Chief Phil Mattracion. "Approaching the car, the officers smelled marijuana emanating from the inside of the vehicle. They called for assistance, and myself and a lieutenant responded, as well as one of the K9 units from the sheriff's department."

That's when things took a turn for the weird. According to Chief Mattracion, 17-year-old Sheik Rasheed Hassan, who was not in the car but was, apparently, a spectator of the proceedings, began barking at the dog as it began its work searching the car for drugs.

"That attracted the attention of other people hanging out there," said the chief. "At the same time, because of this commotion, there was a minor fender bender where another car backed into another car watching what was going on."

Fortunately, there were no injuries as a result of the accident. At this point, the police arrested Hassan, and he was charged with disorderly conduct. He was released on an appearance ticket returnable to the Village Justice Court.

The chief said that officers found a marijuana blunt in the ashtray, and none of the car's occupants claimed ownership.

"Therefore all four occupants were charged with the crime of unlawful possession of marijuana. Those four were all issued appearance tickets returnable to the Village of Ellenville court."

This was not the first time that Hassan had a run-in with the village police. In August 2009, he had been arrested for assaulting his mother's boyfriend after an argument. At another time, Hassan had driven his car into the 'boy with the boot' statue in Liberty Square, said the chief.

As to Hassan's motivation for causing the canine commotion, Mattracion said he didn't know.

"Unfortunately, Mr. Hassan, for whatever reason, thought he would make a spectacle of himself at that time and attempt to interfere with police operations," said the chief.