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It was a warm, sunny day in the coastal town of Narragansett
when the spill happened Sunday, and Narragansett Police Capt.
Ryan Prest said he was told that the scene “started to smell bad
as the squid sat out in the sun for a few hours.”
The fully-loaded trailer was taking the squid to a processing
facility out of town when the trailer dislodged and tipped on
its side as the driver was navigating a turn, spilling a
“substantial portion” of its calamari cargo, the police
department said in a statement.
Police responded at 9:27 a.m., and the intersection wasn’t
reopened until 5:15 p.m., authorities said.
Video of the scene showed a trailer on its side and massive
piles of squid on the road.
“Squid has a distinctive odor to it,” Richard Stevens, a
Narragansett resident and fisherman, told WJAR. “It can be very
foul smelling, especially if it lands on the road and stays
there for awhile.”
Heavy equipment and a dump truck were used to remove the squid,
Prest said.
The driver and a passenger in the truck cab weren’t injured, and
no other vehicles were involved, Prest said. The Rhode Island
State Police Commercial Enforcement Unit is investigating but
it’s unclear if any enforcement action will be taken, Prest
said.
“We have not issued any citations,” Prest said. “I’m not sure if
there will be any citations issued by the state police.”
State police did not immediately respond to a request for
comment.
The Narragansett Police Department made light of the situation
in a social media post on Wednesday, stating that the town is
“still recovering” from the “Squidpocalypse of ’26 — the spill
that put ‘slippery when wet’ to shame.”
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Kelety reported from Phoenix.
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