Rolls Royce driver arrested on suspicion of DUI – then cops found a monkey in his car
Highway Patrol officers uncover ‘next level monkey business’ after motorist found to have baby primate in vehicle when pulled over for speeding in central California
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California Highway Patrol (CHP) officers received a surprise on Monday during a routine traffic stop when they pulled over a speeding driver and found a baby spider monkey wearing a pink polkadot onesie sitting in his car.
The officers noticed the white 2022 Rolls Royce Ghost travelling at “excessive speed” as it headed north of Avenue 17 on Highway 99 through Madera County and ordered the driver to pull over to the curb.
The man behind the wheel, subsequently named as Ali Mused Adel Mohamed, 27, was duly arrested for driving under the influence (DUI) and possession of cannabis for sale.
More surprisingly, Mohamed was also found to have the one-month-old primate in the vehicle, also an offense under state law.
“Primates are illegal to own as pets in California,” CHP-Madera explained in a Facebook post the following day, recounting the tale.
“The monkey was safely taken by Animal Control where he will receive the proper care. Some next-level monkey business!
“The driver was booked at the Madera County Jail and is facing several charges, including possession of an exotic animal.”
According to The Los Angeles Times, one of the arresting officers volunteered to take the monkey home with him to care for it overnight, nicknaming it “Marcel” after Ross Geller’s pet of the same name in the hit sitcom Friends.
He then turned it over to Madera Animal Services staff the following morning, who also posted about their encounter with the monkey, writing on Instagram: “We had the cutest visit from a spider monkey today, but he is no longer in our care, he is onto bigger and better things!”
The post was accompanied by a video of Marcel swaddled in a blue blanket and eating pulped fruit from a plastic spoon, clearly immensely enjoying being cared for by the department’s director Amy Toler.
“It was just a matter of keeping the monkey warm against me with a blanket,” Toler told the LA Times.
“We fed it mashed banana and gave it water. It did have a diaper that was changed.”
In an update to its original New Year’s Eve post, the CHP explained that the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) had since taken possession of the animal and delivered it to Oakland Zoo “for appropriate care” by the facility’s expert zookeepers.
“We really want to deter people from participating in the pet trade like this, because it’s clearly illegal and it’s not good for animals to be raised with unqualified care,” CDFW Captain Nathan Smith told the LA Times.
“Many of the spider monkeys we see are malnourished due to a lack of understanding of dietary and medical needs.”
Captain Smith said the illegal trade in pet monkeys is a growing problem in the Golden State.
He further explained that, in the wild, spider monkeys are cared for by their mothers until they are at least two years old and require more careful nurturing than most owners who acquire them illegally are prepared for.