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LA VERKIN, Washington County — A routine traffic stop took a surprising twist for a southern Utah family on their way home to Newcastle.
"I saw that I was getting pulled over and thought 'oh no,'" Jennifer Hayes said.
Hayes had just been visiting family, then she was pulled over in La Verkin by Washington County sheriff's deputy B. Allen.
"It was just a simple traffic stop for a minor violation," he said. "I could hear a cat meowing, and I thought that was super odd. That's not a standard thing."
Allen said he walked to the front of Hayes' car and saw a furry paw sticking out of the car's grill.
He is heard on body cam video saying he found a gray cat. The driver immediately responded, "Yup! It's Gus."
"She let me know that her cat has been missing for a couple days," Allen said about the interaction.
Hayes said the family cat went missing a day and half before. In that time, the family had driven about 200 miles.
"We were hearing meowing, but it just didn't dawn on me that it might have been Gus because I had checked the engine," Hayes said. "So sad. I mean, he was like stuck in, like, the grill area."
The entire rescue is caught on body cam video, where Allen is seen and heard coaxing the cat out of its hiding place.
"You come here. Come here kitty. Come here. I know you're not going to like this. But I'm going to pull on you a little bit. Come on, stop scooting away. Come here. Give me that paw! Come on."
Keeping the situation light-hearted, he does his best to help the kitten.
"Come here. Get down. Come on. I've got your arm. You've got to comply now. Come on."
Hayes is heard laughing and repeating what Allen had just said, "You've got to comply."
A few seconds later, Allen is heard saying, "oh no. No!" as he holds what looks like a snap-release collar.
Then moments later, the two are seen pulling the cat from the car's grill.
"I've got both feet. Can you poke that arm? Yeah, there we go," Allen said.
"Oh, Gus!" Hayes said.
"You got him?" Allen replied.
"Are you OK?" Hayes asked Gus.
The 6-month-old cat was not injured. It was the ending his family had hoped for.
"My son was saying, of course, that it's an answer to a prayer and that, thank goodness we got pulled over," Hayes said. "I mean, he really did see deputy Allen as the hero."
It's a title Allen doesn't take lightly, saying even though unconventional, he's glad he was the one who made the traffic stop that night.
"I think next time I will handle it exactly the same way," Allen said.
Contributing: Viviane Vo-Duc, KSL.com
