A deputy in Florida didn’t expect to hear meowing while he was performing a routine traffic stop in the wee hours after midnight. Bodycam footage shows Cpl. Robert Young of the Marion County Sheriff’s Office in the middle of a DUI investigation on July 19 when he spots a kitten on the road. The cat was scared and ran off, but it still managed to get a happy ending.
Deputy rescues kitten and finds it a forever home
At around 12:58 a.m. on Sunday, deputy Young was investigating a potential DUI and walked back to his patrol car when he heard a soft noise. He took a few steps forward before spotting the animal in the distance.
“Oh my god, there’s a kitten right there!” the cop says.
The cat, possibly curious about the sirens and flashing lights, seemed to be frightened by the cop and darted away across the U.S. 441 as he was pursued on foot. The cop wasn’t able to catch it and returned to his patrol car, not knowing what would happen to the kitten. The deputy still needed to finish the DUI investigation.
But then about 25 minutes later, Young sees the kitten again as it crosses the road and luckily avoids oncoming traffic. The cat safely nestled itself into a nearby ditch, where PIO Strong was able to find and carry the kitten on her shoulder over to the deputy.
Young let the kitten stay at his house for the night and later brought the cat over to the sheriff’s office where he quickly became a favorite. Because of its white moustache, the feline was dubbed “Lil Billy.” Fortunately, the deputy was able to find the kitten its forever home with a fellow colleague named Cody, an Evidence Property Technician.
An organization named VOCAL, or Voices of Change Animal League, provided Cody assistance to make sure that the kitten was well cared for.
