"If there's a god for birds, it was looking after this one," said Lt. Jim Royer.
A poor hawk apparently didn’t look both ways before crossing when it flew into the grill of a moving car in California and wound up getting stuck.
“It’s almost like the perfect strike, where the bird really didn’t get hit by the car,” Lt. Jim Royer of the Hawthorne Police told InsideEdition.com. “The bird was flying at the same speed as the car so as the bird crossed, it kind of pushed the bird into the grill.”
Authorities were called to the scene after the driver noticed the bird was still stuck in his car, more than 30 miles later.
“I don’t think he realized he was still there,” Lt. Royer told InsideEdition.com. “I think he knew he hit something but I don’t think he realized it was alive and still in his grill. We were thinking we were going to run into a dead bird.”
But luckily, animal control officer Evelyn Diaz was able to rescue the hawk from the grill in good condition except for a badly broken leg.
"If there's a god for birds, it was looking after this one, that's for sure," Royer said.
The hawk was then brought to South Bay Wildlife Rehab, where a surgeon will determine the extent of its injuries later this week.
Sgt. Scott Nichols, who filmed the rescue, identified it as a juvenile red shoulder hawk.
“We’re suburban for the most part but there are some areas where birds of prey can nest,” he told InsideEdition.com. “Personally, I’ve been around animals all my life so I have no problem reaching down for stuff like that.”
While Nichols said pulling a hawk out of the car was a first for him, other wild animals seem to have a bad history with car grills.
Last week, a bobcat in Virginia was stuck in a car’s grill for more than 50 miles before being rescued by animal control.
A bald eagle also found itself victim to a car grill last year in Florida.
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