CONWAY, Ark. (KTHV) - A routine traffic stop in Conway is going viral around the state and the entire country after the driver proved their sobriety with a juggling act.
University of Central Arkansas student Blayk Puckett got pulled over late Friday night for driving under the speed limit. Officers suspected he was driving under the influence, but it's how he proved his sobriety is what has everyone talking.
The incident really is as crazy as it sounds. Officers said Puckett swerved a little bit, he was driving too slowly, and that he had a tail light out. Lucky guy, right?
Upon making contact, McKay asked Puckett where he was going. The student was headed home from the library on campus.
"I could tell pretty much from that initial contact, and no odor coming from the vehicle, that he was okay to drive,” McKay said.
Still, officers decided they needed to investigate a little further. They ran Puckett’s information through dispatch and everything checked out.
"It was very clear that I hadn't been doing anything wrong. I knew I had the tail light out, but I hadn't been drinking or anything,” Puckett said of the incident.
But, Sergeant Keith McKay with the UCA Police Department said he didn't expect his night of typical patrol to turn out the way it did.
Puckett got out of the car after McKay returned and from there things took an unexpected turn.
“At that point we just had some fun. It was midnight. We had to do something during the traffic stop,” Puckett said.
Little did police know, Blayk is quite the magician and a great juggler and he's got the license plate to prove it. Body cams and dash cameras were put to an unexpected use.
"I saw an object I couldn't make out in his pocket, his hands were also in his pocket," the officer recalled.
He asked Puckett to show him what was inside his pocket and he pulled out a magician prop of all things. That's when put on a juggling clinic for the officers, proving his sobriety and proving he's got some pretty good juggling skills as well.
By the end of the weekend, McKay said he was getting calls from people telling him the encounter was on Reddit and CNN. The video on YouTube has been viewed over 514,000 times.
"Though they are serious in nature, it’s nice to have those times where you can have fun both as the officer and the person getting stopped,” McKay said.
He said being polite, having manners, and showing courtesy goes a long way in providing a safe traffic stop.
"I was juggling for a police officer. I mean you hear jokes about this stuff so of course I had to film it. I would have been silly not to,” Puckett said.