Pregnant Woman Hit By Car While Running From A Bear
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Updated: 11:18 PM Apr 23, 2009
Pregnant Woman Hit By Car While Running From A Bear
Police say the woman was walking when she saw a bear and she thought the bear was coming after her. The woman reportedly screamed and ran into the street.
Posted: 1:46 PM Apr 23, 2009
Reporter: McKenzie Martin
Email Address: mmartin@kktv.com
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Police say the woman was walking when she saw a bear and she thought the bear was coming after her. The woman reportedly screamed and ran into the street.

"I heard a rustle behind me and a bear came out of the creek, I was about 2 feet away from the bear," Ashley Swendsen said.

She says when the bear started following her she screamed and ran away.

"I went up a gravel hill and you have to cross a bridge, there's no pedestrian walk and I was trying to cross the bridge and this lady hit me."

Police say Swendsen, ran into the street near 6700 Vincent Drive, three blocks away from Dublin and Vincent. That's when Swendsen was hit and the driver of the car reportedly took off.

"I remembered she said something like I slowed down, I slowed down and I pulled myself off her car and I was screaming that a bear was chasing me," Swendsen said.

Police say the driver of the vehicle asked her if she was injured and she informed the driver that she was not. The driver then left the area. Police say he suspect vehicle was described as a 4-door black sedan, possibly a Mitsubishi, and the driver as a white female in her 70s. Springs Police are asking the driver to contact them in order to clarify some details of the accident.

Swendsen was taken to Memorial Hospital, where she was treated for a bruised leg. She is 5-months along in her pregnancy and the baby was unharmed.

Police say they found a bear a while later in the area, at 1443 Rock Ridge, near Rock Ridge and Turret. The Division of Wildlife euthanized the bear after Swendsen identified her in a picture. The DOW says the bear had become a danger to the area, becoming too comfortable around humans.


Latest Comments

Posted by: Janet Location: NYC on Aug 19, 2009 at 09:17 AM

I think it is horrible to kill the bear who happens to be in his/her natural habitat, just because he/she "was getting too comfortable around humans"...that's insane..poor animal!!
Posted by: boohooo on Jul 25, 2009 at 10:41 AM

kate you are a whiner, read the facts again.
Posted by: kate Location: westside on Jul 2, 2009 at 09:56 PM

Why do so many of you blame the woman who was chased (even if she only thought she was chased) for the bear's death? I don't see anywhere that she asked DOW to put down the bear. For a person unaccustomed to meeting bears in the wild, twenty feet or thirty feet might seem like two. People who leave food out where bears can get at it are contributing to the problem, and anyone who even bumps a hysterical pregnant woman with a car and then leaves her alone with a bear ought to feel bad. I am deeply saddened by the death of the bear, but why not work to get the policy changed or contribute money to support a better relocation problem instead of blaming a frightened young woman?
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