Officer Lance Benjamin was patrolling a Louisiana neighborhood on Christmas Eve when he got an unexpected visit from nature.
"I felt something hit the left side of my face," Benjamin tells WVUE. "So I'm thinking, maybe it's a football or something and then I felt some scratching on the back of my head and some pecking."
The barred owl's talons led the officer to lose control of his police car, crashing in a ditch.
"I tried to keep control of my car, went into a ditch, avoided some trees. Finally was able to stop the car, put it in park, (and) get out. And there he was, just chilling out in the car."
Chief Tim Lentz initially thought the text he received about the incident was a prank, but the accident was verified from the officer's dashcam video.
CNN reports that Benjamin completed his shift after being treated for scratches and getting a tetanus shot and antibiotics.
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