PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) — The kitten that caused a brief traffic jam on Interstate 195 in Providence, Rhode Island, last week was rescued by a woman who spotted it while driving by, body-worn camera footage reveals.
Rhode Island State Police troopers were seen on a Rhode Island Department of Transportation camera Thursday evening trying to catch the wayward cat, who was hiding underneath a stopped vehicle.
NewsNation affiliate WPRI has since learned the kitten somehow fell out of the SUV and became stuck in the wheel well, prompting the driver to stop in the far left lane just before the Washington Bridge.
The cat kept trying to escape her hiding spot underneath the SUV, which was surrounded by troopers and good Samaritans attempting to catch her. She eventually hopped over a jersey barrier and vanished, prompting everyone to disperse and traffic to start flowing again.
The body-worn camera footage is from the perspective of a trooper who was called to the interstate moments later for reports of a vehicle precariously pulled over in the left breakdown lane.
The footage shows the trooper approaching the vehicle and asking the driver, who was cradling a blanket in her arms, what happened.
“Hey are you OK?” the trooper asked the woman.
“I found a kitten!” the woman shouted. “Poor thing, I don’t know what to do.”
The trooper apprehensively told the woman he had a K-9 in his cruiser, and that he wasn’t sure if he could take the kitten with him.
“I don’t know either, I have a dog in my car,” he said.
The trooper eventually told the woman he would take the kitten to Providence Animal Control, but asked her a peculiar question first.
“Are you OK parting with your blanket?” he asked. “I’ll try to find something in my cruiser.”
The woman urged the trooper to take it as the kitten looked around bewildered from her lap.
“It’s my beach blanket, don’t worry about it,” she said. “I have a million (blankets) at home.”
The woman explained that she found the kitten in the breakdown lane and pulled over to rescue it.
“I was like ‘Oh my God!’ I couldn’t just drive by,” she told the trooper, adding that the kitten was friendly but scared.
The trooper could be seen petting the kitten on the head while walking her back to his cruiser. He then placed the bundled up kitten in the car’s passenger seat and brought it to Providence Animal Control.
The shelter confirmed that the kitten was dropped off by state police and was not injured. She is not yet up for adoption, however, because she needs medical treatment that’s unrelated to the highway ordeal.
