STAFFORD COUNTY, Va. -- Deputies used a shield, ironing board and walking sticks to oust a "burglar" from a Satfford County home early Saturday morning, officials said.
Major Shawn Kimmitz with the Stafford County Sheriff’s Office said deputies responded to a "burglary in progress" call at a home off Novak just after 3 a.m.
Deputies checked the home, but found nothing out of the ordinary, Kimmitz said.
But then the Emergency Communications Center received a call just after 3:35 a.m. about a raccoon inside the home, officials said.
"Similar to the raccoon character RJ in the animated comedy Over the Hedge, a raccoon entered the home to look for food," Kimmitz said. "Fortunately, this raccoon possessed none of the superpower abilities of Rocket, the anthropomorphic raccoon in Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy."
Sgt. G.A. Haney and Deputy K.P. Hall contained the "mischievous masked mammal" in a bathroom and then used a ballistic shield, ironing board and bamboo walking sticks to steer the animal outside, Kimmitz said.
The animal was "released to forage in the wild" and no injuries were reported, according to Kimmitz.
