CHARLOTTE, NC (WBTV) – Several cars hit a cow along I-485 early Wednesday morning shutting down the freeway.
One of the drivers involved said there was just no time to react and no time to get out of the way.
“Boom – there’s a cow, and I couldn’t turn fast enough,” he said.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg police said three cows and a bull escaped their pen from a farm near I-485 and Mt. Holly Road around 3am Wednesday morning.
One of the cows who was pregnant at the time, wandered into traffic along a dark portion of the interstate, when she was struck by several cars. Those vehicles kept on going and didn’t stop to see what they hit. The last driver in a Honda 2000, clipped the cow on the passenger side causing heavy front-end damage. The driver wasn’t hurt. Police credit the low profile of the Honda for saving the man’s life.

Debris from the cow were spread out over sixty yards down the roadway, and two lanes wide.
The CMPD shut I-485 down until ranch hands could remove the carcass using a backhoe. The remainder was hosed off to the side by Charlotte firefighters.
Police said the owner of the cow might be held responsible for damages done to the cars.