Police officer frees frightened buck twice from resident's backyard
By: A deer in distress was rescued by an Ann Arbor police officer after it ran through a resident's property and became entangled in netting, authorities said.
In a post to social media, the Ann Arbor Police Department said the rescue began after a resident called to report a buck that was caught up and trapped in their backyard just before 8:30 a.m. Wednesday morning.
"Officer Dattolo responded to a call for assistance this morning and rescued one of our four-legged residents," the department said.
As seen in the officer's body camera, the deer managed to tangle himself in netting and was laying down in brush close to a fence in the resident's backyard when Officer Dattolo approached the animal.
"I got you, you're doing good," the officer can be heard saying calmly to the deer as he worked to snip the netting. "Excellent. Good job, we're almost there."
After a few minutes, Officer Dattolo freed the buck, but in a frantic effort to escape, the deer ran right into a table, then toppled over a canoe.
It became stuck for a second time after the deer's antlers became lodged in a sawhorse.
"You need to calm down," the officer told the animal as he could be seen moving the canoe out of the way on his body cam.
The buck was able to free its antlers from the sawhorse on its own and promptly took off.
"While he didn't stick around to say thanks, we are pretty sure that the deer is now Officer Dattolo's biggest fan," the department said.