An "irritated" turkey gave a Florida deputy a piece of its mind during a traffic stop, and the hilarious interaction was caught on camera. The St. Johns County Sheriff's Office recently shared body camera footage of Deputy Carson fending off the bird in the Vermont Heights Neighborhood on February 29.
The footage begins with the deputy getting out of his patrol vehicle and immediately "quacking" at a gaggle of fowl on the road. As Carson collects the driver's information, the turkey starts harassing the deputy and even jumps at him. Carson tells the fowl to "Back up!" and mistakes it for a chicken.
“10-4 I’m getting attacked by a chicken right now,” he remarks incredulously. The driver even corrects him on his misidentification.
At one point, the deputy takes off his cap and starts swiping at the bird to stop the pestering.
“I can’t believe this is happening,” he says as a rooster starts crowing at him. "Out of all the places you can come.”
According to the sheriff's office, Deputy Carson was able to complete his traffic stop and get back to his vehicle safely.
The video was reuploaded to YouTube by several news sources. Many viewers poked fun at silly moments in the video.
"Cop isn’t exactly an expert at fowl identification," someone noted.
"I am surprised he didn't put the turkey in cuffs and detain it for disorderly conduct and battery," another posted.
"Plot twist. The turkey belongs to the driver of the car and that’s his distraction to get out of a traffic ticket," a commentator wrote.