It was one of those moments with an irresistible emotional charge.
They were driving east on the 91 Freeway in Riverside when they saw it: a kitten stranded on the west side.
The woman at the wheel and her male passenger, both in their 20s, made a snap decision.
They took the next exit ramp and turned around, slowing to about 30 mph in the high-occupancy vehicle lane and with the car's emergency lights on.
They saw the kitten. The driver slammed on the brakes and stopped, pulling out of the carpool lane as far as the narrow shoulder would allow. The passenger jumped out, pulled off his shirt and picked up the kitten.
And that's when a beautiful moment turned into a catastrophe on Wednesday afternoon.
According to the California Highway Patrol, one of the cars behind failed to brake in time and swerved into the center divider, heading straight for the man holding the cat.
Believing he was about to die, the man attempted to jump over the wall, losing the cat.
To avoid this, the driver swerved in the opposite direction, grazing the bumper of another car and then traveling across all lanes of the highway until the vehicle collided with 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 truck drove off, apparently unaware it had been hit. And the cat escaped with its life.
But it's not all over for the would-be rescuers, whose names were not released. The case is still under investigation for possible violations related to nonemergency stops and obstructing traffic, said Javier Navarro, CHP public information officer in Riverside.
“The good thing is that the cat made it, but these people have caused a huge mess,” Navarro said. “Who stops like that on the highway?”
