The California Highway Patrol said the 750-pound, 1-1/2-year-old heifer
wandered onto a road during stormy weather on Wednesday night in an
unincorporated area of Solano County about 50 miles northeast of San
Francisco. A 1983 Mercedes-Benz travelling north on the road hit the animal,
sending it hurtling into the air and into the path of the Toyota pickup,
which was travelling south. The cow fell through the windscreen and killed
the driver, who was wearing a seat belt. After hitting the pickup, the heifer was thrown onto the southbound lane and was hit by another Toyota pickup.
“This is about as freaky an accident as you can imagine,” CHP Officer
Chris Linehan said in an interview. “Animals get hit but not something like this with it getting thrown up into the air and flying into another car,” he said.
Linehan said police were withholding the name of the victim pending
family notification. The drivers of the Mercedes and the second pickup were not injured. Linehan said the heifer was probably killed after the first impact.
  
© 1999 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or
 redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited without the prior
written consent of Reuters.