Turtle smashes windshield, woman injured

A 71-year-old woman is lucky to be alive after a turtle crashed through her windshield and struck her in the face on Interstate 95.

The woman was riding in the passenger seat when she was injured, according to the 911 transcript provided by the Port Orange Fire Marshal Beau Gardner.

Her daughter, who was driving at the time, pulled over immediately and called 911, saying that her mother was bleeding from a head wound, the transcript said.

“We’re on Interstate 95,” she told 911. “Something just came through the windshield and hit my mom in the head.”

When another driver stopped to help, the daughter asked the man if he could determine what came through the windshield, the Daytona Beach News-Journal reported.

After looking in the car, the man could be heard in the background of the 911 call saying, “There is a turtle in there.”

The woman, whose identity has not been made public, was reportedly taken to Halifax Medical Center in Daytona Beach for treatment of a gash above one of her eyes.

Gardner said his first responders at the scene were told by the daughter that the turtle was hit by a pickup truck driving just ahead of them. The reptile was flung into the air and broke through their windshield. Andre Fleming, a Port Orange police officer, told the News-Journal that the turtle was fine, save for a few scratches on its shell.

Gardner said his staffers removed the turtle from the car.

“According to them, when they put the turtle on the ground it took off into the woods,” Gardner said.

It’s not clear what type of turtle it was.

There was a similar situation on a Deltona Highway in 2016, which was also reported by the News-Journal.

Authorities at that scene said that a turtle was hit by a car and the impact caused the reptile to fly off the ground. That turtle also ended up smashing through the windshield of a passing car, Florida Highway Patrol Sgt. Ken Montes told the News-Journal.

In the 911 call in 2016, a man is heard in the background saying, “Man, it’s a big ass turtle!” according to the News-Journal. It was estimated to be 12-14 inches in diameter.

DAYTONA BEACH NEWS-JOURNA/COURTESY A 71-year-old woman was injured when a turtle smashed through her car’s windshield on Interstate 95 near Port Orange on Wednesday. Pictured above is a similar incident in Deltona in 2016.