Oh Dear, Oh Deer!

Late Saturday evening, as Brian and I were driving home from visiting friends, we came upon a deer.

The deer was lying in the center of the road. The deer was dead. The deer was very big and had just been hit. In fact, the woman who hit the deer was in the process of turning her car around so that she could get the deer removed before other motorists hit it. About the time the woman had parked in the ditch is about the exact same time Brian and I hit the deer.

It was raining and we were on Grand River, a busy road that cuts its way across the state of Michigan from Detroit to, well, I don't even know, but it's long. Anyway, the part of the road we were on happened to be in a rural area, no businesses or towns for quite some time. We were just driving along at about 55 mph when all of a sudden, A DEER. There was no time to react so up and over we went...we caught some serious air too....totally Dukes of Hazzard style, only we weren't in the General Lee, but Brian's beloved Mercedes *another reason why it's a crime that I don't have a horse...right? RIGHT!*



We hit the pavement hard on the far side of the deer and then quickly pulled off to the side of the road to assess the damage. The Radiator was completely torn apart, and the car was not drive able, so insurance and the police were called.

Here's the thing though, we don't know many people where we live. The ones we do know were either at bars drinking (and couldn't come get us) and the other one, our brother in law, lived 30 minutes away. The accident happened in a very rural area about 25 minutes from our home.

We were told by our insurance provider that the police would be able to assist us in getting home. The wrecking crew could only get us about half way home to their office, so that was a no go. Naturally, we counted on the officer who assisted us to at least get us to a gas station or somewhere where we weren't so vulnerable (instead of on the side of a busy road with no lighting, in the rain, in November, at midnight with nothing but cornfields for 10 miles in either direction).

What do you think happened? Well, I'll tell you. The officer refused to assist us. He told us that he could not offer us a ride anywhere because
1. he was only one of two Sheriffs on duty in Ingham county
2. he had another accident to get to (the woman who actually hit the deer and was parked 100 feet from us) and
3. he had no room in his car (BS, because I saw with my own eyes that he had a full back seat open and ready ~ not that I wanted to get back there, but hey, I would have taken it at that point).

I can understand that, but he could have given us a lift to the nearest well lit and covered place, or he could have given us the number to a taxi or something. All he did was get into his car and drive away, leaving us alone, in the dark, miles from anywhere on the side of the road...annnnnd, I was wearing my new high heeled boots!!!!! The outrage I felt was great! Can you imagine the trouble he would be in if we were struck by a car and killed? Ohhhhh....I almost want to complain, but I'm not really a complainer *disclaimer: I complain, I just don't complain to officers*.

We ended up getting ourselves to an MDOT station a while down the road (you know, where they house the salt trucks and maintenance equipment). There we sat in the cold waiting for our saint of a brother in law to drive us home. All in all he must have taken an hour out of his evening to drive our butts around...poor guy! To top it all off, we have a $500.00 deductible because apparently hitting a deer is an at fault incident....Oh DEER!