Photo provided by Billie Fox
TOPEKA (KSNT) – A local mother says things could have ended much worse when she hit a deer on I-70 with her young son in the backseat.
Billie Fox of Topekan was driving home from Council Grove in the early evening of June 21. She was driving through Wabaunsee County when she noticed a deer across the street. She told 27 News that before she knew it, the animal was right in front of her car.
“I tried to slow down, but it didn’t work,” Fox said. “When he hit my windshield, I didn’t know what to do, but I thought to myself, ‘I’ll put my little one in the back seat and let’s pull over to the side of the road.'”
She said she panicked when the deer broke through the windshield and fell into her lap, but she remained focused on protecting her son.
“I freaked out,” Fox said, “but I thought I had to get out of here so I could check on my baby.”
And that’s exactly what she did. With the deer still on her lap, Fox managed to pull her car onto the shoulder so she could pull her son out of the back seat.
“The deer had knocked my car over in park,” Fox said. “It was as if if I didn’t pull over to the side of the road, I would end up in the middle of the highway.”
Fox had the car taken to Lewis Collision Center in Topeka. The dealership’s experts told 27 News that the deer caused about $15,000 in damage and that the car was a total loss.
Fox said she has a lingering back injury but is thankful her baby is OK. She told 27 News the Wabaunsee County Sheriff’s Department has been extremely helpful.
“They said it was almost a miracle that it hadn’t gotten worse,” Fox said.
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