A zany news item out of Humboldt involves a sheriff's deputy who was out on a call about a drug overdose when a bear seemingly fell out of the sky onto his patrol car, causing the car to crash into an embankment, flip over, and catch fire.
The Humboldt County Sheriff's deputy was traveling north on Highway 96 with lights on and siren blaring Saturday night around 11 p.m. when out of nowhere — apparently from a high embankment above the road — the bear fell onto the windshield and hood of the car. The car flipped over, caught fire, and the blaze sparked a wildfire in the surrounding brush, as KRCR reports. The Hoopa Fire Department responded and extinguished the blaze, and the officer was able to escape the vehicle unharmed.
There's apparently some question about whether the bear jumped or fell, as SFGate notes, but it seemed to also escape the scene without terrible injury, and was not there when the fire crews arrived. There's no word on whether someone actually OD'd.
Says Caltrans District 1 on Facebook, "Travelers are reminded to stay alert while exploring the beautiful highways and nature of District 1. Bears, elk and deer are just some of the critters sharing our coastal home."
Bear Xing signs around the county should maybe be amended to include falling bears?
Photo via Hoopa Fire Department