Directing traffic is an occasional duty of police officers and four geese crossing a bridge put those skills to the test for one Victoria Police officer.
John Ducker says he and his sister-in-law were heading out to get to an appointment when they headed across the Bay Street Bridge.
“We had to get across town for an appointment and I decided that we should go by the Bay Street Bridge because the traffic is always better than trying to get across Johnson Street in the middle of the day,” Ducker told CHEK News in a Zoom interview.
“So we got to about Bay and Tyee and the traffic was just chock-a-block and I looked forward up the street and at first I didn’t believe what I was seeing.”
Ducker says since he was the passenger, he pulled out his phone to start recording.
“I saw a goose going by, then a car got in the way and they all appeared again when the traffic cleared and there was two Canada geese and two little goslings and then a police officer on a bike had made her way up there and was shepherding them back and forth,” he said.
Ducker says the police officer was trying to guide them to one side or the other, but the curb was too high for the goslings to climb up.
“After about a minute or so she guided them over to the south side of the bridge and away they went and we said ‘thank you’ and she said ‘thank you’ and away we went,” he said.
Once the geese were cleared, Ducker says as he was headed east off the bridge, traffic heading west was backed up all the way to Blanshard.
Ducker retired in 2013 as the deputy chief of police with VicPD and says he was happy to see a VicPD officer going above and beyond in this situation.
“I commend the officer for taking the time to do that. A lot of people would have just driven around and traffic passing would have been blocked, they might have hit them,” Ducker said.
“So a cop going above and beyond again, which I think is great.”
CHEK has reached out to VicPD for more information and will update if a response is received.
Watch the encounter below:
Laura Brougham
