This view of Bridgeport Deputy Chief Randy Hartley's computer shows one of the images captured by Bridgeport Officer S.M. Fleming of the aftermath when an deer made a surprise visit to a Bridgeport home and then looked for a way out.
This is the window where a deer jumped into an Easy Street home in Bridgeport early Wednesday. The animal was eventually coaxed outside by Bridgeport police, but not before its efforts to get outside wreaked havoc on the interior and left it injured. Staff photo by Matt Harvey
This is the home on Easy Street into which an 8-point buck jumped through a window. The home's walls, furniture, floors and decorations all were damaged before the animal finally was coaxed out the front door by police. Staff photo by Matt Harvey
This view of Bridgeport Deputy Chief Randy Hartley's computer shows one of the images captured by Bridgeport Officer S.M. Fleming of the aftermath when an deer made a surprise visit to a Bridgeport home and then looked for a way out.
This is the window where a deer jumped into an Easy Street home in Bridgeport early Wednesday. The animal was eventually coaxed outside by Bridgeport police, but not before its efforts to get outside wreaked havoc on the interior and left it injured. Staff photo by Matt Harvey
This is the home on Easy Street into which an 8-point buck jumped through a window. The home's walls, furniture, floors and decorations all were damaged before the animal finally was coaxed out the front door by police. Staff photo by Matt Harvey
BRIDGEPORT — Quiet little Easy Street in Bridgeport turned into something akin to a horror movie early Wednesday for two residents: An 8-point buck jumped through their bedroom window, then rampaged about until it finally found its way back outside.
The blood, broken glass and toppled Christmas tree left behind had veteran Bridgeport officers shaking their heads and saying the home looked a lot like the aftermath of a burglary or even a homicide.
And it had one of the occupants, Debbie Vangieson, calling for further action from city officials.
“I lived in the country my whole life and never had any trouble with deer until I moved to city limits,” she said. “Something needs to be done about these deer. They eat all the plants in your yard. Had there been a child in that bedroom, it would have died.”
The deer jumped through her window shortly after 2:30 a.m., according to the police report.
It came in at an angle, Vangieson said, over the bed and into the closet doors, breaking them.
“Had the bedroom door been shut, it would have been a different story because someone probably would have been seriously hurt,” Vangieson said. “And then it just ran wild here in the house. ... It just destroyed everything in its path. Anything that was glass is broken. The Christmas decorations in the house — it just toppled everything over.
“Blood’s on the walls, blood’s on the furniture, the sofas,” she said. “The insurance adjuster was just here, and every bit of the hardwood floors has to be redone all through the house because they’re just gouged and scratched — the deer fell and tried to get up. It’s just destruction everywhere you look.”
Bridgeport officers J.M. Holley and C.B. Sayers were among those responding on Lt. Mike Lemley’s overnight shift. Police eventually were able to herd the frightened animal to the front of the house and out the front door, according to Deputy Chief Randy Hartley.
Photographs were taken by Officer S.M. Fleming that show the Christmas tree knocked over, and glass shards in different parts of the home. Blood also was visible in many of the photographs, although it was even more apparent during a walk-through of the home.
Blood was on the floor, walls, furniture, a vase and even on the side of an ornate billiard table.
The occupants of the Easy Street home aren’t the first Bridgeport residents to complaint about a deer problem. In fact, an urban deer hunt was started four years ago because of the outcry.
The efficacy of the hunt had been questionable especially for the first three years, when a total of only 100 deer had been killed by archers.
But this year, as the bag limit was increased exponentially, the final tally was 105 deer killed, according to Hartley.
He anticipates City Council continuing to back the hunt now that the numbers have increased.
Wednesday’s “Nightmare on Easy Street” might see some asking for even more, or different, action.
“It looked like a murder,” Chief Walker said, amazed at the damage done to the inside of the home.
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