A police chief has apologised after two of his officers mounted on horseback led a handcuffed suspect by a rope down a street in the Texas city of Galveston.

Photos of the incident on Saturday (local time) went viral on social media.

The two officers linked the rope to handcuffs worn by 43-year-old criminal trespass suspect Donald Neely and led him around the block to a mounted patrol staging area.

Dear @GalvestonPD.



What you did here to this man, Donald Neely, is horrible and unacceptable.



I would say "We need answers," but nothing you can say would ever justify what you did to this man. Nothing at all. pic.twitter.com/OdVeqrFDcv — Shaun King (@shaunking) August 6, 2019

In a statement on Monday (local time), Police Chief Vernon Hale said this was “a trained technique and best practice in some scenarios", such as with crowd control.

But he said he believed his officers "showed poor judgment in this instance and could have waited for a transport unit at the location of arrest”.

He said his department has "immediately changed the policy" to prevent use of the technique.

Neely is free on bond. He has no listed telephone number and couldn't be reached for comment.

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