Why did the snake cross the road? Because cops let it. As disgruntled motorists no doubt hissed, police officers stopped traffic so the serpent could slither across a busy street in Roanoke, Virginia.
Video footage shot by Randy Leftwich and posted on Facebook shows the cops diverting several cars until the snake was out of harm's way.
Leftwich told CBS News he was on his way to drop off dry-cleaning when he saw the two officers halting traffic on Franklin Road.
"Awesome to see these guys out there helping," he said. "I thought it was a turtle at first. When I saw the snake I thought cops get such a bad rap these days, here are two officers helping out an animal."
There have been many occasions when police have lent a helping hand to the animal kingdom. Some of them have been just ducky.
Possibly one of the most heartwarming was a 2016 incident in which a mother goose hailed a Cincinnati police sergeant by pecking on his car, leading to the rescue of her gosling.
Sgt. James Given described how the mother goose "kept pecking and pecking" then "walked away and then it stopped and looked back" so he followed her right to her litter, where one of the goslings was tangled up in string.
Then there was the time when Police Officer Kevin Putzy stopped traffic to let a family of ducks cross a busy road in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, The New York Daily News reported.
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