Cat Tossed from Van onto Highway Saved By Teenager, Who Adopts Him

A 14-year-old from Michigan stopped traffic to save a cat that was thrown from a moving car.

It happened on Sunday, when Gavin Orlowski was driving on I-196 with his mother Erin Brown in Grand Rapids, according to WZZM 13, which reported the story.

“I hear my mom … she’s driving, and I’m in the passenger seat and she’s like ,” Orlowski told the station. “There’s a cat being thrown out a window, running all around the street because the van in front of us just threw it out.”

That prompted the teen to jump into action. “I was just thinking, like, I need to get this cat,” Orlowski, who immediately got out of his vehicle, told WZZM.

With the cat “hanging off the over-bridge,” Orlowski stopped traffic and grabbed the it (the person who threw the cat from the van drove off, however).

Mother and son took the animal to BluePearl Animal Hospital, where, miraculously, it was determined the cat suffered no serious injuries.

“Turns out nothing was really wrong with except all of his nails got cut off because of him trying to grasp the asphalt on the road and his back hurt from the fall,” Orlowski said.

The teen and his mother decided to adopt the cat, now named Lucky.

“After hearing Lucky’s story, we were amazed that his injuries weren’t more extensive,” Dr. Kristopher Sharpe, an internal medicine specialist and one of the medical directors of BluePearl, said in a statement to PEOPLE. “We’re so happy this fortunate cat is doing well and has found a family that will give him a loving home.”