Merida, Yucatan — A newspaper photographer captured the moment a motorcycle-riding Santa was pulled over by a policeman.
The officer stopped Santa because he wasn’t wearing a helmet, according to the photographer, Julián Núñez.
After appearing on the Novedades Yucatan Facebook page, the image was shared nearly 2,000 times in less than a day. Among the comments was one calling the policeman a “grinch,” which apparently means the same thing in Spanish and English.
Shared on the Yucatan Times Facebook page, the post got more than 200 more replies, with one reader imploring St. Nick to be safe. Another replied, #santalivesmatter.
But mainly, the photo drew laughs and jokes. Others posted photos of the roaming Santa taken before the “tragedia.”
One commenter wondered why someone who can safely fly a sleigh propelled by reindeer would need a helmet to navigate a simple motorcycle through the Centro.
Novedades Yucatan is the reformatted Sipse newspaper, which until three weeks ago was known as Milenio Novedades.
