Owl attacks Covington officer, causes crash

NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) - A Covington police officer was attacked by an owl while he was patrolling early Thursday morning, causing him to crash his patrol car.

Officer Lance Benjamin was in the Savanah's Subdivision around 1:45 a.m. with his window rolled down when the owl flew into the vehicle, according to Chief Tim Lentz.

he owl scratched and pecked Benjamin, causing him to briefly lose control of his car and crash into a ditch.

Benjamin suffered minor scratches. However, when police opened the patrol unit's door, the owl made good on its escape.

After being checked by medical workers, he returned to work to finish his shift.

Lentz said it was hard to believe that the incident happened. A text message woke him up that read, "Officer Benjamin involved in a crash after owl flies into his unit." He said he originally thought it was someone's weird way of playing a joke.

A body camera caught some blurry, hard-to-make-out video of the incident. But Lentz's Facebook version of the story makes it worth a look.

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