Live deer springs from car trunk, taking police by surprise


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KALAMAZOO, Mich. - It was a scene right out of "Tommy Boy."

Officer David Miller was on routine patrol early Tuesday morning when he came across a suspicious person in a hotel parking lot, according to WOOD TV

After talking to the man in the vehicle for a moment, he said something interesting: "I hit a deer, I figured you would want to see it."

The man said he had a dead deer in his trunk, one he intended to feed to his family after accidentally killing it.

Miller decided to see what the situation in the trunk was.

"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," explained Lt. Stacey Geik with the Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety.

He opened the trunk and found something much more surprising than a dead deer: A live one.


You just never know what you're going to encounter. You never know. There could be worse things in trunks.

–Lt. Stacey Geik


"Oh, he's still alive," Miller said as the deer jumped to the ground, rolled over, got up and ran to a nearby wooded area.

The car owner was at a loss for words, police said, after realizing the deer was not as wounded as he had initially thought. They said the deer likely hit the car, rather than the other way around, stunning it or knocking it out temporarily.

"He held his ground nicely," Geik said of Officer Miller. "So I'm proud of him."

Police said there were no obvious signs the deer was actually hurt.

"You just never know what you're going to encounter," Geik said. "You never know. There could be worse things in trunks."

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