A Michigan public safety officer got a big surprise early Tuesday morning when he opened a motorist's trunk to inspect a dead deer for proper tagging. As it turns out, there was no roadkill in the motorist's trunk; a live deer jumped out of the trunk alive.
The encounter resulted in a hilarious dash-cam video that's quickly gathering steam as it makes the Internet rounds.
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Kalamazoo Public Safety Officer David Miller was on a routine patrol around 2:20 a.m. Tuesday, when he noticed a man sitting in a parked car behind a Red Roof Inn hotel. Miller approached the man, a Kalamazoo resident, who said he had just hit a deer with his car on a nearby roadway, put it in his trunk, and was bringing the animal home to feed his family.
Miller asked the man if he could see the dead deer to make sure it was properly tagged.
In Michigan, motorists who hit deer can request to keep the meat but need to report the incident and acquire a state deer kill permit.
"The officer merely
wanted to check on the tagging of the deer to make sure it was appropriately tagged with a kill permit or accident permit," Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety Lt. Stacey Geik told WoodTV.com, a local NBC affiliate.
When Miller opened the trunk, a live deer sprang out, took a tumble, and ran away to a nearby wooded area. Police said the deer showed no signs of being injured.
"You just never know what you're going to encounter," Geik told WoodTV.com. "You never know. There could be worse things in trunks."
Michigan's 2 million deer are most active during spring and fall, and each year, there are more than 60,000 vehicle-deer crashes reported in the State of Michigan, according to KDPS.
"It was a fun story, to maybe get a smile on people's faces for a change," Geik told WoodTV.com.
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