5 deer leap to deaths from Ind. overpass

Five deer leaped to their deaths from a highway overpass in Indiana, including one that hit a passing truck's windshield, authorities said.

No people were injured in the bizarre incident that motorists witnessed at 12:30 p.m. Friday on the outskirts of Markle, Ind., The (Fort Wayne) Journal Gazette reported Saturday.

Brian Jenks, a Huntington County Sheriff's Department dispatcher, said the deer plummeted 20-30 feet from U.S. 224 to the northbound lanes of Interstate 69.

Department of Natural Resources spokesman Phil Bloom said the deer could have been pushed to the highway by hunters working nearby fields and woods, farmers harvesting crops, or have been affected by the breeding season. Once on the highway, passing cars may have startled them into jumping, not realizing how high up they were, John Salb, a DNR district spokesman, said.