A Utah police officer pulled a humorous April Fools’ Day prank on an unsuspecting driver and his passengers when he – legitimately – stopped them for speeding last Friday.
After giving the driver the usual talk about going 91 mph (146km/h) in an 80 mph (129km/h) zone and requesting his license, Salina City Police Department Chief Eric Pratt, asked him and the four passengers about an odor coming from the car and whether they had any controlled substances with them.
“I’m with the feline unit, the Salina Police Department’s Feline Unit and I do have my feline partner with me,” says Pratt, who then proceeds to his patrol car to bring his ‘drug-sniffing’ kitty named ‘Froo Froo’.
“So what I’m going to do, I’m going to deploy my cat around the outside of your vehicle. If the cat indicates the odor of a controlled substance, we’re going to from there, OK? Does that make sense to you?” asks Pratt.
He then completes a lap around the car before approaching the passengers and confessing: “You guys, I can’t keep playing with you. This is an April Fools’ joke,” he says, with the driver and passengers bursting into laughter.
Pratt also made sure to inform viewers of the video that no taxpayers’ money was wasted on this prank.
“Before anyone gets too carried away (there’s always a few), no tax payer dollars were spent in relation to this video,” explains Pratt on the department’s Facebook page. “The few minutes of fuel will be paid for by me, I’m a salaried employee and this is on my own time, and last but not least, my sweet cat Froo Froo was not injured during this incident. The stop was legitimate (speeding), and my decision to give a warning was legitimate (I regularly warn for 11 over, which is what the stop was for). Smile people, it’s April Fool’s Day!”