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Police Officers Wrangle Wayward Snake In Canonsburg

CANONSBURG (KDKA) -- This past Sunday, near the stroke of midnight, Canonsburg Police Officer Matthew Tharp struggled to coax a five-foot snake from the wheel well of a car, owned by 7-Eleven employee Sandy Kirtz.

She says the adventure began at the gas pump.

"I was parked over here," she said. "The snake was over there by the gas pump. I went back in the store, called the police."

That's when the snake spotted her car.

"It was swirling down this way, and then it wrapped around my wheel well," she said.

As camera phone operator Darnell Thomas followed the action, officers Tharp and Brian DaPra gently prodded what turned out to be a non-venomous black snake.

They guided the snake toward the edge of the parking lot.

The officers finally got the snake into the grass, and it scurried into the trees beyond. It's been there ever since, as far as we know. At least, Sandy Kirtz hopes it is.

"That was more excitement than I needed that night," she says.

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