Indian Harbour Beach Man Dies After Colliding With Turtle
On Wednesday a man riding his bike on a darkened street died after striking a turtle in Melbourne.
According to the Brevard County Fire Rescue, the accident happened at about 3:16 a.m. in Indian Harbour Beach. Fire Rescue crews and investigators arrived to the scene after a call came in about the man’s body lying in the roadway near the motorized bike.
“He apparently suffered a head injury and was already deceased when we arrived,” said Don Walker, spokesman for Brevard County Fire Rescue, said to USA Today. “It appeared he hit the turtle. He may have also been hit by another vehicle while lying injured.”
The turtle, which was determined to be a box turtle, was said to have survived the crash and managed to walk away with just minor injuries.
Brevard County Sheriff’s deputies are conducting a traffic crash investigation with this incident. At this time it is not known if the unidentified man was wearing a helmet or not.
Kim Montes, a spokeswoman with the Florida Highway Patrol, told USA Today that crashes with turtles are rare in Florida.
“You see these kinds of accidents very rarely. It’s either deer or bear when you hear of an animal involved in an accident,” said Montes.
Montes does remember one crash involving a turret in Volusia County on Interstate 4 in which the turtle was struck while attempting to cross the busy interstate.
“Somehow the driver clipped the turtle at such an angle that it tossed the turtle into the windshield of another car,” Montes said. “The troopers got there and pulled it out of the windshield and put it in a nearby body of water,” she said.
Usually the turtle receives the most injuries in these rare occasions, but this strange accident had opposite results.