What started as a good deed ended in a messy situation after a driver in Florida's Panhandle caused a major wreck when he stopped to allow a turtle to cross the road.
The Walton County Sheriff's Office said the incident took place Tuesday morning on a road in the county, NBC affiliate WPTV reported.
Officials said the driver stopped to let a turtle cross but instead caused a chain-reaction crash.
Video footage captured by a dashboard camera inside a semi-truck captured the incident. The video shows several cars driving on the road and then suddenly slowing down. A car can be seen veering from the left lane into the right, as the semi-truck swerved to miss it. The semi-truck then travels through the cars piling up, and hits a black pickup truck before coming to a stop in the roads median.
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No serious injuries were reported in the wreck that involved several vehicles.
"We don't advise causing a road obstruction because of a reptilian obstruction," the agency said in a post on Facebook. "While no ill intentions were meant, trying to avoid or assist an animal who has made its way onto a busy road can cause you or other drivers life-threatening injuries."
The department said the turtle survived and is now "living happily ever after in a pond where he will (hopefully) spend the rest of his days avoiding pavement of any kind."
