Police in Springfield Township, Ohio, say a woman was allowed to have the raccoon they found in her vehicle, but it was the meth pipe the animal was holding that got her in trouble. In a Facebook post describing a "strange incident on patrol" on Monday, the police department said things took "an unusual turn" after driver Victoria Vidal was stopped for having an active warrant and a suspended driver's license. Police said Vidal was detained without incident, but when an officer "returned to the vehicle, he observed a raccoon named 'Chewy' sitting in the driver's seat with a meth pipe in its mouth."
"Chewy had somehow gotten hold of a glass methamphetamine pipe, leading officers to further inspect the vehicle," said police, who released bodycam footage of the bizarre encounter. Police said they found a "bulk amount of methamphetamine" in the vehicle, along with crack cocaine and three used glass meth pipes, ABC News reports. Vidal, 55, was charged with multiple drug offenses before she was turned over to police in Cuyahoga Falls on the active warrant, which was also drug-related.
Police said Chewy was unharmed, and authorities determined that Vidal had "the proper paperwork and documentation" to own the animal. People in Ohio are allowed to have pet raccoons, but permits are required, CBS News notes. "While our officers are trained to expect the unexpected, finding a raccoon holding a meth pipe is a first!" police said. "No raccoons were hurt or injured in this incident." (More strange stuff stories.)
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