FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va. (DC News Now) — Police body camera footage captured the moment an unexpected motel guest greeted officers early Monday.
Just after midnight, someone saw an alligator outside a motel room in the 5900 block of Richmond Hwy., according to the Fairfax County Police Department.
When police arrived, they, in fact, saw an alligator standing outside one of the doors.
“Yeah there is actually an alligator outside of the hotel,” one officer is heard saying in the bodycam footage, as an alligator is seen sprawled outside one of the room’s doors.
Animal Protection Police officers responded to help. Through an investigation, officers determined that the alligator’s owner was transporting it from New York to a zoo in North Carolina and had made a stop in Virginia, police said.
However, Virginia law prohibits the possession of certain exotic animals not native to the Commonwealth, so officers safely escorted the alligator and its owner out of the county. But before the reptile left the motel, one curious bystander tried to catch a peak.
“I would bring your dog in inside there is an alligator over here,” the officer told the bystander, according to the bodycam footage.
To which the person replied, “I know, I want to see it.”
