PORTLAND, Oregon — A truck driver was hospitalized last week after a turkey crashed through the window of his semi-truck in southern Oregon.
David Duell of Astoria was driving south on Interstate 5 in Douglas County when the wild turkey crashed through the driver's side of the windshield, hit him in the face and then went out through the back window.
"I never would have guessed a full-sized turkey; that’s for sure," David Duell's daughter, Emily-Jean Duell said about the crash on April 3.
Emily-Jean Duell said her father has been driving trucks as long as she can remember, even before she and her brother were born.
"He really enjoys it. He makes lots of friends everywhere, and he’s really good at his job," she said.
She has always worried about him being on the road, but never imagined something like this could happen.
"When I got the call, it was, 'Hey, he’s got lots of injuries on his face and a bird hit him.' And I was like, 'There is no way. This guy dodges bears, this guy rolls up on accidents, and a turkey is what takes him out,'" Emily-Jean recalled.
The impact knocked David Duell unconscious. The semi-truck ran off the road and went through a wire fence before coming to a stop in a field near the freeway, Oregon State Police reported.
"It's crazy because as far as we are aware, he was not conscious for any of it," Emily-Jean Duell said. "When he first woke up, he didn't know if he was going north or south, and he doesn't remember anything with the accident, except for a little bit of the Life Flight."
David Duell was airlifted to a hospital in Medford for a broken rib, a broken nose and a fracture in his neck. He is recovering back home in Astoria. His daughter said the swelling has gone down, and he's able to speak more clearly.
"The colors are definitely blooming on his face, but he's been watching the NCAA highlights a lot and cackling at the whole situation with the turkey," she said.
She added that he is "itching" to go back to work, and when he does, he will be getting a pay cut because he won't be able to work the extra hours that he normally does.
One of his co-workers has set up a GoFundMe to help him financially.