CHICAGO -- As to why the rooster crossed the road, it may be simply because he wasn't chicken.

At least that was apparently the case for one particular rooster who crossed a really busy road in downtown Chicago on Thursday morning.

Luckily for the rooster, his path crossed that of a Chicago traffic cop named James Svec.

"I was directing traffic when out of nowhere a chicken was crossing LaSalle," said Svec. "The bird was jaywalking. He should have gotten a ticket."

So naturally, Svec crossed the road and learned something that just never came up in the police academy. "It's not easy catching a chicken," he said.

Finally, with the help of a construction worker, Svec cornered the bird and grabbed him before he was turned into a feathered hood ornament.

But not before the rooster suffered a leg injury when it was bumped by a car. "I think it will be fine," Svec said.

All of which still doesn't answer the question of how a rooster found himself on a busy street in downtown Chicago.