Martinsville Bulletin, Inc.
P. O. Box 3711
204 Broad Street
Martinsville, Virginia 24115
276-638-8801
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| Buck hits car, front door of city police department |
Martinsville Police Officer C.A. Gravely (left) and Capt. Tim Porter look at the shattered glass in the police department front door. (Bulletin photo by Mike Wray) |
Thursday, October 18, 2007
By GINNY WRAY - Bulletin Staff Writer
The Martinsville Police Department was the victim of a crime on Wednesday and is seeking a four-legged suspect with a white tail in the case.
About 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, a deer struck a car driving through the department’s parking lot, hitting its windshield, according to Officer Richard Barrow.
The deer became disoriented and when it got back on its feet, it ran across the lot, smack into the front door of the police department, Barrow said. It then ran through some bushes, headed for Fayette Street.
The impact shattered the glass in the door, but it did not break. Bits of deer hair were evident in the spider-web break.
That prompted considerable courthouse humor from those passing by:
• Judge Carter Greer observed that it looked like a clear case of property damage.
• One officer assured Commonwealth’s Attorney Joan Ziglar that DNA evidence could be gathered from the door. That would be necessary, she replied, to prosecute the culprit.
• Another officer said the incident gave new meaning to the term “hit and run.”
Officer Coretha Gravely was laughing only in hindsight. She and Stacy Hollandsworth of the clerk’s office had been standing outside, talking in a nearby doorway, when she heard someone in the passing car holler “DEER.”
She saw the deer cross the parking lot and hit the door with a “BAM” before it ran off.
“It was flying so fast” that she was not certain how big the deer was, Gravely said. “I’m glad it got the door and not me.”
Jennifer Brown was working at the front desk in the police department Wednesday afternoon when she heard the “really loud boom.” At first she thought it was a dog, but then she saw its white tail and, because her husband hunts, she knew it was a deer.
Police Chief Mike Rogers said the culprit, which remained at large Wednesday afternoon, was a spike buck, likely about 18 months old.
Rogers said last week a large doe jumped from the back of the BB&T parking lot onto the lower level and landed between two cars. It was killed instantly from the impact, Capt. Tim Porter added.
They recalled that a year ago an eight-point buck jumped from the same spot.
So what’s behind all this? Mating season is nearing, Rogers said. “In the fall of the year is when we see the most accidents. Normally they are a buck or a doe being chased by a buck.”
Or, as Porter put it, “Deer get stupid this time of year.” |
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