Wild turkey crashes through window into home
“We never thought in a million years something like this can happen.” Sammi Gonias
NORWALK — Sammi Gonias and her 6-year-old daughter Scarlett were cooking a dessert pizza last Friday when an unexpected, feathered guest burst through the dining room window of their West Norwalk home.
A large, wild turkey shattered the window and rampaged through the kitchen, living and dining room area around 7 p.m. that night, Gonias said.
“Right before, we saw a couple turkeys walking in the yard, and two minutes later one flew through the window,” she said. “I didn’t know what was happening. I saw a turkey on the floor and heard glass breaking. It is so loud, it sounded like movie when someone crashed through window.” Then more chaos ensued. Scarlett began crying, asking her mother if the turkey was going to destroy the house, Gonias said, while the family’s Jack Russel terrier, Carolyn, began attacking the bird. The dog left the tussle unscathed.
“I didn’t know what going to happen too,” Gonias said. “Is it going to flop and knock things down?”
After her husband, Jason, unsuccessfully attempted to wrestle the bird from the home for about 20 minutes, the couple resorted to calling animal control, who said no one was available and to instead contact police.
Shortly after, Norwalk police officer Andrew Roncinske arrived at the Huckleberry Drive home to corral the unruly fowl.
With the help of Jason, Rocinske pinned the turkey against the living room wall with a blanket and pushed the bird into a large, empty bucket, according to the incident report.
“Turkey feathers and broken glass were covering the house,” Rocinske wrote in the report.
Having secured the bird, Rocinske released it down the road and the turkey left of its own accord, Norwalk Police Department spokesperson Sgt. Sofia Gulino
said.
The ordeal lasted about four hours, including the hour needed to remove the turkey and an additional two and a half to clean the mess it left in its wake.
The window repair, which occurred
this week, cost about $400 but the repairs to the area surrounding the window, which will require sanding and repainting, have not yet been estimated, Gonias said.
Between the turkey break-in and window replacement, the empty space was covered with a board and tarp until the a new pane was installed.
The family still finds slivers of glass around the home and continues to wear shoes as a precaution, despite vacuuming multiple times, Gonias said. Her main concern is letting people who live in the area or see turkeys in their yards know that this can happen.
“Everyone is OK. It was just more we never thought in a million years something like this can happen,” Gonias said. “We had birds fly in the window and bounce back. The window is raised, it’s almost on the second story so it had to be flying at a fast speed.”
While the couple is uncertain what incited the bird’s stunt, Gonias said she believes it may have seen his reflection and been startled or felt challenged.
Throughout the ordeal and subsequent cleanup, the couple’s 19-month-old son slept soundly, Gonias said, and she and Scarlett completed their dessert the next day.