Driver with Deer Hanging from Car Leads W.Va. Police on 2-County Chase

A motorist led a very peculiar two-county police chase in West Virginia — when he tried outrunning deputies with a deer hanging from his driver’s side door, according to investigators.

It happened Thursday, Feb. 20, in Jackson County, and not one, but three agencies partnered to stop the 63-year-old driver. Jackson County is along the Ohio state line.

“Following a snow-covered road pursuit that began in Mason County, (a driver) has been arrested following a call for service involving him dragging a deer carcass up the road dangling from the driver’s side door,” the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office wrote in a Feb. 20 Facebook post.

“(He) had secured the carcass utilizing the driver’s seat belt prior to engaging in the vehicle pursuit with law enforcement ... Some things you just can’t make up in this line of work.”

The car was ultimately stopped when deputies placed spiked strips in the road and punctured the tires, officials said.

The driver was charged with fleeing from an officer in a vehicle, Mason County jail records show.

Exactly why he was dragging a deer has not been explained.

It is not deer season in West Virginia, but the driver may not have been the one who killed the deer, officials suspect.

The Ravenswood Police Department in Jackson County was among the agencies involved in the pursuit, and department officials suspect the deer was roadkill the driver saw and decided to take.

“For what reason, I have no idea,” a Ravenswood official told McClatchy News.

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