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‘Guardian Angel': Pigeon Saves Speeding Driver From Ticket

Because the driver's face was obscured on a traffic enforcement camera, German police couldn't give out a 105 euro ($117) fine

Police in western Germany say divine intervention saved a speeding driver from getting a ticket, after a pigeon photobombed a traffic enforcement camera at just the right moment.

Perhaps inspired by this week's Ascension Day national Christian holiday, Viersen police said "the Holy Ghost must have had a plan" to help the driver.

Just as the radar clocked the driver at 54 km/h (33.5 mph) in a 30km/h zone and the camera flashed, the pigeon flew in front of the car, obscuring the face of the driver with its spread wings and thereby concealing the necessary evidence of who was at the wheel.

Police say "thanks to the feathered guardian angel," the driver was spared a 105 euro ($117) fine but should take it as "a sign from above" to slow down.

It isn't the first pigeon's encounter with a German police camera that authorities aired this month.

The city of Bocholter said in a May 2 Faceboook post that a camera had caught a pigeon flying 45 km/h (28 mph) in a a 30km/h zone, making it liable for a 25 euro ($28) fine.

"Whether and especially how the fast bird can and will pay the 25 euros, remains open," the city's post read in German.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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