It was one of those moments with an irresistible emotional tug.
They were driving east on the 91 Freeway in Riverside when they saw it: a kitten stranded on the westbound side.
The woman at the wheel and her male passenger, both in their 20s, made a quick decision.
They took the next off-ramp and circled back, slowing to about 30 mph in the HOV lane with the car’s hazard lights on.
They saw the kitten. The driver slammed on the brakes and stopped, pulling as far out of the carpool lane as the narrow shoulder allowed. The passenger jumped out, took off his shirt and scooped up the kitten.
And that’s when a beautiful moment unraveled into a catastrophe Wednesday afternoon.
According to the California Highway Patrol, one trailing car didn’t brake in time and swerved into the center divider, heading right toward the man holding the cat.
Thinking he was about to be killed, the man tried to jump over the wall, losing the cat.
To avoid him, the driver swerved the other way, clipping the bumper of another car and then careening across all lanes of the freeway until the vehicle hit a tractor-trailer.
The good news? No one was seriously hurt; the Riverside Fire Department said one person was taken to a hospital for treatment of minor injuries, CBS reported. The semi drove off, apparently unaware it had been hit. And the cat escaped alive.
But it isn’t necessarily over for the would-be rescuers, whose names were not disclosed. The case is still under investigation with potential violations around non-emergency stopping and impeding traffic, said Javier Navarro, public information officer for the CHP in Riverside.
“The great thing is that the cat made it, but these people caused a big mess,” Navarro said. “Who stops on the freeway like that?”