Feb 1, 2008 7:40 pm US/Eastern
Cow Lands In Back Seat Of Car After Crash
REHOBOTH, Mass. (WBZ) ―
Talk about a "mooooving violation."
A Rehoboth woman and her daughter ended up with an extra passenger after they hit a pair of cows earlier this week.
It happened late Tuesday night as they were driving down Providence Street in Rehoboth.
Tonya Coccia swerved to miss some cows that had wandered out onto the road, but hit two of them.
Somehow one of the cows ended up in the back seat of the car!
Coccia told police that one of the cows was lying in the road, and she couldn't get out of the way in time. She hit that cow head on and then hit a second cow.
Coccia told officer that the second cow flipped up and over the car before crashing through the rear window.
The cow came to rest on the back seat, safe and sound.
"I believe what happened was that when she hit them, they were both vaulted over the car," Rehoboth Fire Chief Robert Pray told the Taunton Gazette. "And one hit the roof so hard; it crushed the roof and ended up inside the vehicle."
Both Tonya and her daughter suffered minor injuries in the crash and are expected to recover. Unfortunately, her car was totaled.
As you can see from the pictures, the car's hood and roof were caved in and the windshield was smashed.
The first of the two cows had to be put down and the second suffered minor injuries.
The cows had tags on them identifying that they belonged to a nearby farm.
The trapped cow was quite agitated. Rescuers had to tie it down so it wouldn't move inside the car. They then towed the car to the farm and let the cow out.
Emergency crews said all things considered, the crash could have ended a lot worse.
"When we first arrived on scene, I saw the vehicle's occupants standing nearby," Pray told the newspaper, "but I saw the car shaking and at first, I couldn't figure out why. It was lucky the doors of the vehicle weren't jammed so the people could get out and there was no one in the back seat."
Pray said in all his years of experience, he's seen many animals hit, but never seen anything like this.
Officials said the driver will not be charged.
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