People doing good

A squirrel, a cop and a good Samaritan: tales from Brooklyn Park

Bob CollinsBob Collins Oct 5, 2018
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Updated 9:15 a.m. | Posted 7:11 a.m.

No man stands so tall as when he stoops to help a squirrel. That’s the hopeful message we take with us on this Friday as we read the latest from the streets of Brooklyn Park.

The gritty video comes straight from the cop’s body cam.

Gritty MPR News scribe Tim Nelson tells the story:

It looked like yet another roadside tragedy when Brooklyn Park police rolled up: a car stopped in the middle of the street, driver side door open, a pedestrian lying prostrate on the side of the road and unresponsive.

And furry. And gray. With a white tummy and fluffy tail.

Body camera footage from an officer captured the aftermath.

“I runned it over a little bit,” the young man who had been behind the wheel explained, as he administered chest compressions — very, very small chest compressions — on the squirrel lying on near the curb.

Chris Felix lives nearby and said he was on his way to work as detailer at a Twin Cities Subaru dealership when he hit the squirrel. Or the squirrel hit him.

“I’m not exactly sure what happened,” Felix said in an interview on Thursday, shortly after the video of his resuscitation effort was posted on the Brooklyn Park police Facebook page. Whatever happened, he was worried the squirrel was going to die.

“Is he squished at all?” asked the officer. It didn’t appear like it. “Flip him over,” the cop suggested.

That apparently did the trick. The squirrel started blinking. Moments later, it leapt up and ran into a line of pine trees nearby.

“We’ll put you in for a lifesaving award,” the cop told the Felix, laughing. Before he high-fived him.

Brooklyn Park Deputy Chief Mark Bruley said the incident happened on the 6500 block of Hampshire Avenue on Sept. 26. He said he follows the discussion about body camera video, and what should be public and yes, he says, it’s not always pretty.

“I put it up because it just seemed to make sense to show this video. It isn’t really about police. It’s just about three people enjoying this moment, when this squirrel comes back to life right before their eyes and got away,” Bruley said.