Kathleen Lavey

Lansing State Journal

LANSING – Students at Eastern High School got an up-close-and-personal look at wildlife this morning when a deer leaped through a science classroom window.

Principal Donna Pohl said she believed the deer already was injured when it wandered into Eastern's courtyard. Looking for a way out, it broke the window of a boys' bathroom, but couldn't get in. It then jumped through the classroom window, skittered over desks, and ran into the hallway.

Pohl said nobody in the classroom was hurt: "They all got out of the way in time."

"It was the talk of the day," said senior Ben Murdoch, who was with friends on his way to lunch when the incident happened shortly before noon.

"We heard people screaming and stuff, and saw a deer running down the hallway," he said. He said a group of 30 or so students followed the deer.

"We kind of chased after it to see where it was going," he said. "When it came at us, we ran out."

The deer tried to break through the window in Eastern's main foyer but couldn't, Pohl said. A teacher managed to open a door and it ran out across Pennsylvania Avenue.

Pohl said the deer had small antlers and assistant principal Glenn Stevens, who is a hunter, estimated it to be about two years old.

Pohl said Eastern's public safety and custodial staffs handled the incident well.

"It was just one of those strange happenings that you can't imagine when you get up in the morning," she said.

District spokesman Robert Kolt said he did not believe any students were injured in the incident, although some school property was damaged.

Eastern students soon took to Twitter to share photos and comments on the incident.

He said a deer also was seen near the lobby windows of Sparrow Hospital, which is next to Eastern. Both are near the intersection of Michigan and Pennsylvania avenues.