News 4’s Ted Greenberg reports.
Talk about a wild pursuit.
Police at the Jersey Shore tried to chase down a deer that broke into an elementary school, and the body camera footage caught the entire commotion over the Thanksgiving weekend.
It was a classroom disruption unlike any they'd seen before at Cedar Grove Elementary School in Toms River.
"We get called by a guy who happened to be walking his dog," Toms River Police Chief Mitch Little told News 4.
One of those rambling animals made it through a window and into the school building.
"He came through and went through this tiny window," Principal Stacey Monetti said.
Get Tri-state area news delivered to your inbox. Sign up for NBC New York's News Headlines newsletter.
Body camera video from the responding officers caught a foot pursuit of the deer around 10 p.m. the night of Nov. 24.
News
"They found him in the stairwell, the deer actually charged them and ran down the hallway," Chief Little said. "The deer just happened to go to a classroom where the door was unlatched."
What happened next, unbelievably, was all caught on camera.
The deer jumped onto a bookshelf, scattering items in the classroom as officers tried to corral the animal. They used a dog snare to eventually get the deer through a door and back outside.
Authorities said the animal didn't seem to be seriously hurt.
Toms River Police are now referring to the wild intruder as "Rudolph," and shared the video of the festival chase on social media.
The deer also broke a window during a failed escape from the classroom. But other than some glass, there wasn't much in terms of damage left in the animal's wake.
