“The snake was at least two metres long and really thick,” Sara Johannesson told the Sydsvenskan newspaper.
The 44-year-old and his lengthy companion frightened a number of passersby who alerted police.
The man was subsequently arrested for public drunkenness.
Skåne police spokesperson Micke Persson later told the TT news agency that the snake was a boa constrictor.
The boa is now a temporary guest at the Malmö Reptile Centre while it waits for its owner to sober up at the police station.