Three occupants of a sedan traveling northbound on U.S. 63 south of Houston escaped serious injury when the vehicle collided hard with a deer Wednesday morning.
The driver of the 2014 Chevrolet Cruze, Cabool resident Kathy Erwin, said the doe came off of a hill on the east side of the highway.
“We hit it and it went airborne,” Erwin said.
The deer destroyed the car’s roof and windshield, and almost ended up in the front seat. Erwin’s mother – Julie Hays of Cabool — was riding in the passenger’s seat and sustained multiple lacerations to her face from contact with the caved-in windshield.
Missouri State Highway Patrol Sgt. George Falterman responded to the wreck.
“We’re working two or three of these a day right now,” Falterman said. “But in all my years of doing this, that’s the worst one of these I’ve seen. It could have been a lot worse.”
A man riding in the back seat was uninjured. The deer ended up on the side of the highway and Erwin’s sister-in-law legally removed it for its meat.
“The impact really wadded that deer up,” Falterman said. “It’s amazing no one was hurt considering the damage that was done to the car.”