Me 1, Deer 0, Cop 4?
So I'm driving home from work last night taking the route I've driven hundreds of times and out of nowhere comes a deer from the right side of the road. I hit its head with the corner of my Blazer. It happened so fast that there was no time to react.
Oddly, (at least to me) it's in a residential area. Woodsy, yes, but still residential. There is a forest preserve of some sort with deer warning signs a couple of miles up the road but according to the newspaper this morning, it's mating season and this happens all the time.
Anyway...
I continued to drive to the next street and pulled over to see the damage.
There wasn't that much... overall I considered myself lucky. I texted (that a word?) my wife at work telling her "I hit a deer!"
For a second I considered just continuing the remaining 15 minute drive home but I wanted to see if the deer was still there. I decided to turn around and go back the few hundred feet to see the aftermath (if any).
I flipped another u-turn so I was basically in the same place I hit the deer and pulled off into the grass on the side of the road with the deer right in front of me...
I pulled up on the deer and noticed it was still breathing. As this this was a new experience to me I didn't know what to do so I called my Dad. He suggested I call the police so at the very least I get a police report. I called 911.
"911 Emergency"
"Yeah Hi, I just hit a deer and having never done this before I'm not sure what the protocol is."
"Are you injured, do you need an ambulance?"
"No, I'm fine but the deer is not"
[personal info & location given]
"An officer is on the way to take the report"
"Thank you"
I sat there for about 5 minutes on the side of the road with my hazard lights on watching the deer on the ground breath in and out. I called home to let my kids know I'd be a bit late.
Soon a Lake County Sheriff pulled up behind me with his lights on. He got out of his squad car and walked up to my blazer. He asked me if I was okay. I explained that I was fine but the deer was hit by my blazer directly in the head at 30 something miles per hour and he was still alive.
"Looks like a young buck.", he said.
Then I must describe the following as surreal as it gets...
Without warning, the cop walked in front my car, pulled his .40 S&W Sig Sauer out of his duty rig and shot the deer right in front of me!
He came back to the car and said... "Not anymore."
I'm not sure what I expected. Maybe I expected he'd call animal control and they'd dart him or something, I don't know... but he did it in such a nonchalant way I was in a bit of shock. Not in shock as some may be at the firing of a gun 10 feet in front of your car with no warning... Hell I'm a NRA Certified Pistol Instructor, I'm on the instructor team at my gun club and have fired 100,000+ round in my day... I've got NO fear of guns. Perhaps I was expecting a "You might want to look away." or "You might want to cover your ears." or "I'm going to put it out of its misery." or something.
I didn't get that.
The officer went back to his vehicle to write up a report. I stayed in my car for a few minutes before I got out to see if the light was better to assess the damage to the blazer. It was when I got out of the car that I shot the picture above with my iPhone. Click it to see a larger version and you will see a white circular spot on his backside/hip area. That is where it was shot. When I was looking at the damage on the passenger side door the officer called to me on his intercom system. I walked back to his car.
He asked me to describe what exactly happened. I did. He asked me how much I'd estimate the damage as. I said I couldn't really see and was going to ask him to borrow a flashlight to see the side of my car. He handed me a flashlight and I headed back to my car to help illuminate the side. The damage concerned me mainly for 2 reasons. 1. We just switched our insurance last week to Liability only (the Blazer is a 1999) and 2. If I had to pump any real money into a repair I could kiss the new TV I've been planning to buy goodbye.
There's a dent in the corner of the hood and a dent in the corner of the passenger quarter panel. There are also some antler scrapes on the quarter panel, the passenger side front and rear doors. With another small dent where those doors meet. I'm sure over $1000 worth of damage but all cosmetic. Not a big deal for a car I'd like to get rid of next year anyway... (good gas mileage, here I come!)
I headed back to his car and we talked for a few minutes... apparently a lady just 2 days prior hit a deer in the SAME spot with a BRAND NEW CAR that was 3 days old. It rolled up her hood and smashed her windshield. I was lucky by comparison.
I asked him what happens to the deer. He asked me if I wanted it. What the hell would I do with the deer? Shocked at the offer, I said NO but I will take another picture of it before I leave. He then stated that he would make a phone call and it would be picked up and disposed of.
He explained the police report to me and explained what I had to send the Secretary of State (for statistical purposes).
I thanked him for the report and started walking back up towards the deer to take one last pic before I left. He got out of his squad and followed. Very much to my surprise, the deer was still breathing.
Let me also note that if I ever wished that the iPhone could record video, this would have been the time!
"Looks like I got it in the hip, I need to get it in the chest area." he said.
Standing less than 10 feet away from me, again with no real warning, he pulled out his service pistol and shot the deer a second time. Very surprising to me, it started moving and flailing. My mind was blown! He stopped traffic on the road by holding his hand out and waving his flashlight... then he shot it again! THEN IT GOT UP!!! I could NOT believe what I was seeing! It was standing again!! And he shot it for a FOURTH TIME!!!!!
I couldn't believe my fucking eyes! As you can tell... I'm NOT a hunter and have NEVER hunted... perhaps this happens all the time.. but there was no fucking way in hell that I would have EVER expected the buck to actually stand up and try to run away!!!
I snapped this image right after the 4th shot and the deer stopped running. (but continued to stand)... zoom in and look to the right of the sign... also note the stopped traffic.
Then this surreal experience kicked into overdrive while minute after minute ticked by and the deer still stood it's ground. Not just on display for the cop and I but to every car stopped in traffic!
With the lighting I was able to see saliva/blood leak from it's mouth and after about minute #4 I watched as it urinated. Shortly thereafter its legs buckled and it fell on its side. It turned its head looking back (towards me) was gasping for air for about 20 seconds and finally went limp. The deer was dead.
The officer got the traffic moving again and walked back towards me. I was again, in shock.
"Holy Shit!" I exclaimed! I asked him if he's ever seen that before. (Deer getting back up after a car hitting it and after getting shot. He said yes... sometimes it can take over 20 minutes for a deer to bleed out and die.
Throughly shocked from the entire experience it was time for me to leave. Part of me wanted to walk up to the deer and take a few close up pictures... but I guess the more sane (less sick) part of me decided against that and drove home.
After telling this story several times already my mom brought up an interesting question. What would have happened if I had my kids in the car? Would the cop have still have done the same thing?
According to our local newspaper...Last year deer-vehicle collisions accounted for more than 1.5 million accidents nationwide, with the Illinois Department of Transportation reporting 25,491 incidents. Collisions resulted in thousands of injuries, hundreds of millions of dollars in insurance claims and about 150 fatalities, one in Illinois.
I guess it's a larger problem than I ever thought!
