BERLIN — Police in western Germany say divine intervention saved a speeding driver from getting a ticket after a pigeon photobombed a traffic enforcement camera at just the right moment.

Perhaps inspired by this week’s Ascension Day national Christian holiday, Viersen police said: “the Holy Ghost must have had a plan” to help the driver.

Just as the radar clocked the driver at 33.5 mph in an 18 mph zone and the camera flashed, the pigeon flew in front of the car, obscuring the face of the driver with its spread wings and thereby concealing the necessary evidence of who was at the wheel.

Police say “thanks to the feathered guardian angel” the driver was spared a $117 fine but should take it as “a sign from above” to slow down.