Surprised toll booth worker calls state police after finding python
BLOOMFIELD, New Jersey -- It was not the typical call for a state trooper in New Jersey Saturday morning.
The call came in at about 10 a.m. for a python dropped in a toll collector's basket at the southbound Essex tolls.
When Trooper Steven Vallejo arrived, he found that was not exactly the case. State police say the snake had actually been found by a maintenance worker in a broken aquarium on the side of the road near the tolls.
The trooper used his expandable baton and leather gloves to handle the snake, police said. Neither the trooper nor the snake were injured.
The snake has been taken in by a pet store, NJ Exotic Pets in Lodi.
In a Facebook post, police said "As Trooper Steven Vallejo responded to the call, he tried to remember our snake handling portion of our academy training. Luckily, by the time he arrived, he remembered--we don't have a snake handling portion of academy training. Oh well. The good news is our Troops are very well trained, able to handle extremely out of the ordinary calls like this one."
