Stories of drivers hitting deer are not uncommon, as neither are those about deer becoming somehow trapped in the vehicles that they come into collision with. This, however, is a first.
A deer jumped into the passenger seat of a speeding car, smashing through the windshield. It happened in Floyd County, Georgia, in the early hours of morning, as Heather Hayes was on her way to work. She works as a trauma nurse, so she’s used to seeing blood and gore, but this was something else entirely.
Hayes tells Fox5 that, as she was driving on Highway 53, she saw a brown “blur” out of the corner of her eye. She felt the impact and briefly closed her eyes. When she opened them, she saw a startled and bloodied deer right there in the car with her, sitting in the passenger seat.
“I close my eyes, I feel glass shatter across my face, there's wind. I open my eyes and I look in the passenger seat and there's the deer,” Hayes explains.
The woman eased off the gas and eventually pulled over and got out the car. She flagged fellow motorists for help and waited until the cops arrived. To her surprise, they were just as shocked about what they saw in her car – and similarly unsure as to how to go about it.
They had to wait some more until Animal Control arrived on the scene and sedated the animal, so they could extract it from the car. By this time, it had thrashed around so much it was almost impossible to get it out without putting it to sleep first.
Sadly, the deer had to be put down after it was rescued: it had broken its back and its hind legs when it went through the windshield and landed inside the car, so there was nothing more that could be done for it.
Hayes is sorry she unwillingly took part in the accident that took a life, but at the same time, she can’t help but feel grateful that she managed to walk away without as much as a single scratch. “I'm thankful I walked away, because a few inches, it could have been critical, a fatal situation,” she says.
Hayes tells Fox5 that, as she was driving on Highway 53, she saw a brown “blur” out of the corner of her eye. She felt the impact and briefly closed her eyes. When she opened them, she saw a startled and bloodied deer right there in the car with her, sitting in the passenger seat.
“I close my eyes, I feel glass shatter across my face, there's wind. I open my eyes and I look in the passenger seat and there's the deer,” Hayes explains.
The woman eased off the gas and eventually pulled over and got out the car. She flagged fellow motorists for help and waited until the cops arrived. To her surprise, they were just as shocked about what they saw in her car – and similarly unsure as to how to go about it.
They had to wait some more until Animal Control arrived on the scene and sedated the animal, so they could extract it from the car. By this time, it had thrashed around so much it was almost impossible to get it out without putting it to sleep first.
Sadly, the deer had to be put down after it was rescued: it had broken its back and its hind legs when it went through the windshield and landed inside the car, so there was nothing more that could be done for it.
Hayes is sorry she unwillingly took part in the accident that took a life, but at the same time, she can’t help but feel grateful that she managed to walk away without as much as a single scratch. “I'm thankful I walked away, because a few inches, it could have been critical, a fatal situation,” she says.