SHELBY TWP. (WWJ) – Police in Shelby Township have had all kinds of suspects in their patrol cars — but this is a first: A pig.

“You would never believe it,” Deputy Chief Mark Coil told WWJ’s Pat Vitale. “Just when you think after 25 years in the business you’ve seen it all, you get a call from a shift commander telling you that we have corralled a pig.”

Coil said the whole thing started after police received a 911 call around 7 p.m. Thursday, from a woman who said there was a pig on the loose and she didn’t know what to do. According to reports, the woman was doing yard work when the pig came barreling toward her. It then chased her into the front yard before getting distracted by a decorative ball.

“Officers responded and were able to detain the pig and get him in the back seat of the patrol car,” said Coil. “Realistically, the pig didn’t give us much trouble. We used a dog pole that we would use for a dog at large and were able to corral the pig and take the pig into custody without any problems whatsoever.”

The real problem occurred afterward — when officers got the pig back to the station.

“Well, lets say the pig either out of excitement or otherwise felt the need to use the back seat of our patrol car as a bathroom,” said Coil.

As officers were determining their next step with the porker, they received a call from its owner.

“The owner realized that his pig was missing while we were in the process of figuring out what to do with this animal, he called and said ‘Hey, I think you’re looking for a pig and it may be mine,'” said Coil. “Not that we have pigs running at large on a regular basis, we returned him.”

Coil said the owner was so grateful the officers caught his pig, he “was kind enough to clean up after his pig’s mess” in the patrol car.

The department posted a photo — that has since gone viral — of the pig in the cop car with a big grin on its face.

“I think he feels that he got the last laugh,” said Coil.