In October during a routine traffic stop in Springfield, Ohio, Officer Austin Branham had quite the unexpected find. There, he discovered a pet raccoon named Chewy waiting for him in the driver’s seat, chillingly puffing a meth pipe. The vehicle was registered to 55-year-old Victoria Vidal. That’s when police pulled her over for having an active warrant as well as a suspended driver’s license.
Throughout the course of the stop, Officer Branham went up to the car and took Vidal into custody without issue. When he got back into the car, he was surprised. You may recall that Chewy, the cute pet raccoon, was in a particularly stinky situation. The attack struck fear in Chewy’s handler, but it drove the officer to alert the appropriate authorities about Chewy’s owners.
Fortunately, Chewy the raccoon was not hurt. Officers alerted the appropriate authorities to ensure the driver was in possession of the proper paperwork and documentation to possess a raccoon.
As Officer Branham started examining the situation, he learned there was much more to be concerned about – inside the vehicle. During the stop, officers discovered more than 50 pounds of methamphetamine in addition to crack cocaine, further compounding the severity of the problem. Further, three used glass meth pipes were found inside the vehicle’s passenger compartment.
Given all these new findings, Vidal was recently charged with several counts of possession and cited for driving under suspension. The strange circumstances surrounding this traffic stop have captured the eyes of local media and Detroit’s residents as well.
Things took an unusual turn, as a police press release described, in an unusual twist of fate, an animal raccoon helped foil a drug operation.