Key deer are an adorable, miniature subspecies of white-tailed deer found only in the Florida Keys. They’re protected, so locals and visitors alike do their best to drive carefully and avoid disturbing them. But one Key deer had a particularly strange run-in with the law that left everyone scratching their heads.

One night, Monroe County deputies pulled over a man driving through the Keys. He was erratic, swerving all over the road. As they approached his car, the deputies got the surprise of a lifetime: a Key deer was in the back seat, seemingly unharmed but understandably confused. When questioned, the man claimed he “found it” and was taking it home to “keep as a pet.” Only in Florida, right?

The deer, small enough to look a little like a dog curled up in the back seat, had indeed been “rescued” by the man, though this "rescue mission" happened to be in the middle of a busy stretch of road. In true Florida fashion, the man was promptly charged with DUI, and the deer was taken into custody as well—though it got a much more polite release back into the wild after a quick health check.

In the aftermath, locals had a field day. Jokes about the Key deer “joyriding” with its new buddy, or the man simply thinking the deer was his designated driver, became instant Keys lore. The deer got back to grazing happily in the wild, and the man learned his lesson (or maybe just took a new route home). Today, the tale of the Key deer DUI lives on as one of the many charmingly weird stories that make the Florida Keys a place like no other.