An East Texas sheriff’s deputy had a roadside scare he will not soon forget after a deer he believed was dead suddenly jumped up, sending the shocked lawman sprinting and screaming back toward his patrol cruiser in a dashcam video that quickly spread online.
The unexpected encounter was recorded by the deputy’s dash camera and later posted to Facebook by Trinity County Sheriff Woody Wallace, who quipped that some moments can “scare the heck out of a person.”
Wallace leaned into the humor of the viral video, urging viewers to “[w]atch when he encounters what he thinks is a dead deer until it comes back to life!”
The footage begins with the deputy walking toward what appears to be a motionless doe lying near the edge of the road.
The deer appeared to be lying still on the roadside as the deputy approached to check on the animal. (Sheriff Woody Wallace via Storyful)
But as the deputy moves in for a closer look, the deer suddenly springs up, turning the quiet roadside check into a startling surprise.
Caught completely off guard, the deputy screams and bolts back in the direction of his patrol vehicle.
The deputy had stepped away from his patrol vehicle to inspect the animal when it suddenly jumped to its feet, startling him. (Sheriff Woody Wallace via Storyful)
“Okay, we’re good,” the deputy says with a laugh after recovering from the surprise.
The deer is last seen sitting up on the side of the road before the video ends.
The deer was last seen sitting up on the roadside before the video ends. Trinity County Sheriff Woody Wallace said the deer “made a full recovery” and escaped into nearby woods. (Sheriff Woody Wallace via Storyful)
“Instead of a citation, the ‘suspect’ made a four-legged getaway and vanished into the East Texas woods,” Wallace wrote on Facebook.
“Just another night shift where anything can happen,” the sheriff added.
Wallace later assured viewers that the doe was unharmed and “made a full recovery.”
The unexpected roadside encounter quickly found an audience online, with Wallace saying the video has been viewed more than 10 million times.
