• Surprise! Officers get a fright when 'dead' deer leaps out of trunk

    Some Michigan police officers got the fright of their life when a deer jumped out of the trunk of a car they were inspecting after the car owner told them he had recently hit the deer and stuffed it in the trunk.

    By Erin McClam, Staff Writer, NBC News

    Some Michigan police officers got a scare when a deer — spooked, probably wounded and apparently determined not to be roadkill — jumped out of the trunk of a parked car during an inspection.


    The officers were on patrol in the middle of the night Tuesday, checking on parking lots, when they found what they deemed to be a suspicious man sitting in a car, NBC affiliate WOOD in Grand Rapids reported.

    The man told one of the officers, “I hit a deer. I figured you’d want to see it.”

    A Kalamazoo police spokesman said that the man had hit the deer on a road and was going to use the meat to feed his family. The officers wanted to make sure the deer was properly tagged with a permit.

    The man hit the trunk release, and out hopped the deer, hind legs first —  causing both officers to jump back with a start. The deer tumbled onto its side, managed to right itself and scampered into nearby woods.

    “Oh, he’s still alive!” shouted one of the officers, David Miller.

    It was all captured on the officers’ dashboard camera.

    The spokesman, Lt. Stacey Geik, told WOOD that he was proud of Miller.

    “He held his ground nicely,” he said.

    This story was originally published on Wed Mar 20, 2013 10:14 AM EDT

  • Indiana may drop case against couple who rescued 'Dani' the fawn

    Courtesy of WTHR

    This young deer -- named "Dani -- was rescued by Connersville, Ind., police officer Jeff Counceller and his wife.

    By Susan Guyett, Reuters

    INDIANAPOLIS -- A couple who rescued an injured fawn they named "Dani" and nursed it back to health should not be charged with a crime, a state agency said on Friday, reversing its stance after thousands of people expressed outrage on social media.

    Jeff and Jennifer Counceller faced misdemeanor charges of illegally possessing a wild animal after they brought the injured fawn to their Connersville, Ind., home more than two years ago. They said they planned to nurse her back to health and release her.

    When the Indiana Department of Natural Resources sent an officer to their property last summer to kill Dani under department rules, she was gone from her pen. The state discourages residents raising wild animals because of the threat of disease spreading.

    The Councellers have said they do not know who left the gate open, but it was not them. Dani has been in the wild since then.


    Indiana Gov. Mike Pence got involved in the case after 60,000 people demanded on social media that the charges against the couple be dropped.

    A legal defense fund received more than $2,300 in pledges and the couple made an appearance on "Good Morning America."

    "The Department of Natural Resources today will ask that the charges be dismissed," a spokesman said, after the agency reviewed the matter at the request of the governor. The final decision on the case will be made by a local prosecutor.

    "At the end of the day, the deer survived and that's all that matters," Jeff Counceller, who is a Connersville police officer, said earlier this week. "She's getting to live a hopefully long life and that's all that matters."

    Previous story: Police officer, wife face charges after nursing injured deer back to health

  • Police officer, wife face charges after nursing injured deer back to health

    Courtesy of WTHR

    A police officer in Indiana and his wife face charges for possession of this injured deer they rescued.

    By Vignesh Ramachandran, Staff Writer, NBC News

    An Indiana couple says they were just trying to nurse an injured deer back to health when they took the little animal in, but now they're facing criminal charges, according to local media reports.


    Connersville, Ind., police officer Jeff Counceller rescued the little deer, which he said he found with wounds on it haunches on a porch during a police call two years ago, NBC affiliate WTHR in Indianapolis reported.

    "I was gonna put her back in the woods, but I seen (sic) the injuries and I knew they were life threatening," Counceller told WTHR. So he and wife Jennifer nursed the deer -- which they named "Dani" -- back to health and built a pen for the animal in their backyard near the woods until the deer grew stronger, WTHR reported.

    The couple told WTHR it wasn't a secret that they had the deer, and they had tried calling several deer habitats across the state but found they were too full at the time.

    "She would run around. She would play. We would feed her crack corn and deer chow and other things," Jeff Counceller told WTHR. "Again, we knew someday that we needed to turn her loose."

    Courtesy of WTHR

    The deer, named "Dani," reportedly escaped the day state officials were scheduled to have her euthanized.

    But last year, the Indiana Department of Natural Resources found that the couple should be prosecuted for the illegal possession of a white-tailed deer, according to The Indianapolis Star. State officials were going to have the deer euthanized because she had reportedly been around humans too long, but the deer escaped the day it was going to happen when a gate was left open, WTHR reported.

    The Councellers could be punished with up to 60 days in jail and a $500 fine for the misdemeanor charge against them, the Star reported.

    In the last few days, the couple's conundrum has garnered international attention. A Facebook page pushing for the charges to be dropped had more than 19,000 likes by Tuesday evening. A similar petition on Change.org had more than 16,000 supporters by Tuesday evening.

    John Waudby, who created the Facebook page on Saturday, told WTHR he thinks "eventually public pressure will drop these charges."

    Carmel, Ind., resident Suzanne Murray told the Star in an email that she finds "the actions of the DNR (Department of Natural Resources) in this case outrageous and nonsensical."

    A jury trial is expected in March, and a special prosecutor and judge have been assigned to the case, WTHR reported.

    Nicole Pence and Emily Longnecker, both of NBC affiliate WTHR, contributed to this story.

  • Surprise intruder breaks into Philadelphia home: 300-pound deer

    NBC10

    Damage left behind after a 300-pound deer broke into a house in Philadelphia.

    By David Chang, NBCPhiladelphia.com

    A home invader broke into a house in northeast Philadelphia -- but it wasn’t the kind of intruder that the homeowner or police expected.


    Ron Philipose tells NBC10 he received a call from police over the weekend saying there may have been a burglary at his home on the 1600 block of Welsh Road. Police told Philipose they had gotten a report stating there was glass breaking inside the house.

    Read the original report  |  More from NBCPhiladelphia.com

    Philipose, who was with his wife and 2-week-old son at a doctor’s appointment at the time, agreed to meet with police.

    As Philipose and several police officers arrived at his home, officers say they spotted blood on the couch and wall. They drew their guns and asked Philipose to leave for his own safety. The officers then searched the inside of the home, which was in shambles, with blood and broken glass everywhere. When they arrived in a back room they found the intruder: a 300-pound deer that had somehow gotten into the house, breaking a fence and a window in the process.  Police say there was even glass inside the baby’s crib and changing table.

    Stay informed with the latest headlines; sign up for our newsletter

    The officers locked the deer in the room and contacted Pennsylvania Fish and Wildlife, who came to the property an hour and a half later. The officers tried to get the deer out of the home, but were unable to. They were eventually forced to euthanize the animal.

    Philipose said he believes his personal property insurance should be able to cover the damage. 

  • Deputies: Florida woman jabbed ex with antlers

    By msnbc.com staff

    A Florida woman was charged with domestic battery she used the antlers of a mounted deer head to beat up her ex-boyfriend, authorities say.

    Chelsea Harrison armed herself with the deer head after her ex-boyfriend Terry Nowakowski broke down the door Tuesday to get into their Zephyrhills house, authorities told the Tampa Bay Times.

     

    She "began striking him in the face and body with the ends of the antlers until she lost her grip dropping it to the floor," according to a story on tampabay.com, citing a Pasco County Sheriff's Office report. Nowakowski, 20, managed to flee and call for help, the website reported.

    Read the original story on tampabay.com

    The victim told authorities that he and Harrison, 23, were no longer a couple but have a 3-year-old daughter together and both own the home in Zephyrhills, according to tampabay.com.

    The fight reportedly began when Nowakowski walked outside the home and called his new girlfriend "which he believes angered Chelsea," tampabay.com reported.  

    When he tried to get back into the house, he found the door locked. He claims she then punched him when he poked his head inside a window after removing a screen. At that point, he decided to break down the door and got hit with the antlers, the website said.

    He reportedly suffered cuts and swelling in the attack.  

    More content from msnbc.com and NBC News: