A Covington, Louisiana cop was attacked by the raptor while on patrol early on Christmas Eve.
A Louisiana police officer was behind the wheel of his patrol car on Christmas Eve when he was suddenly attacked by an owl.
Officer Lance Benjamin had his window rolled down around 1:45 a.m. on Thursday when the owl flew into the vehicle, Chief Tim Lentz wrote on the Covington Police Facebook page on Thursday.
The bird began to peck at Benjamin and attack him with its wings and talons. The officer briefly lost control of his vehicle and drove into a ditch, reports WAFB.
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The police chief first heard of the bizarre incident in the middle of the night and said he thought it was some strange Christmas joke before going back to sleep.
"Surely nothing as outrageous as an owl flying into a police car could happen," Lentz wrote."I imagined the next text would be that Santa Clause was spotted on Collins Blvd."
When he went to work the next day, Lentz realized there was no joke being played. Just to be sure, he checked if the attack was on Benjamin's body camera footage.
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"And yes it was," Lentz wrote, though the footage was shaky.
When Benjamin opened the patrol car door, the owl made a deft escape, but not before the officer could snap a photo of the bird in his passenger seat.
According to Lentz:
"After being checked out by medical personnel he returned to work to finish his shift with an amazing story to tell, and proof it happened."
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