Friday, March 29, 2024

Car hits animal, leads to ‘fishy’ situation

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A female motorist was in for the shock of her life Wednesday morning when she was traveling northbound in a red Toyota Camry on U.S. Highway 377 and reportedly struck an animal.

The worst was not over for the driver, unfortunately.

The impact from hitting the animal caused the vehicle to become uncontrollable, leading the motorist to drive off of the highway and into one of the ponds at the new Cresson Park.

“The driver told us that they thought they struck a deer,” said Cresson Volunteer Fire Department Chief Ron Becker. “But I will tell you that as we were leaving and turning to go back to Cresson, hanging on the fence there was this coyote and the coyote was not cold like it had been out all night or anything. Someone had hung it up there. It was wired up to the fence. So, our presumption is that might have been what was struck.”

When the wrecker pulled the car out of the pond and onto the embankment, a puddle of water was still standing in the floorboard of the passenger side.

Imagine the surprise on the Department of Public Safety (DPS) trooper’s face when he realized that there were two fish swimming inside the car.

“We joked a little bit about that,” Becker said, with a laugh.

In fact, DPS Trooper Troy Bridier wanted his picture taken of him holding up one of the fish. The picture was posted on the Cresson Volunteer Fire Department’s Facebook page.

“I guess that’s why he wanted his picture made. I guess he isn’t the best fisherman,” Becker said, laughing.

Both fish were returned to the pond, unharmed.

“The fish went right back in the water,” Becker said. “They’re both back in the pond swimming along happily. I guess they’re just as happy as they were before any of this happened.”

According to Becker, the driver was not critically injured and “no one was transported to the hospital by ambulance” following the incident.

However, the driver is adamant that she hit a deer and not a coyote.

"We never found a deer. Of course they run off, " Becker said, “But the driver is convinced she hit a deer."

After a moment of silence Becker added, "this was a little bit of a different deal, I will tell you that.”