Ashley Swendsen, 26 years old and nearly six months pregnant, was chased into traffic by a bear as she went for a walk during her lunch hour in Colorado Springs Thursday.

A car brushed her to the ground and the driver slowed as Swendsen screamed that she was being chased by a bear.

But the driver, an older woman, sped off and the three cars behind it passed by as well, said Swendsen, reached by cell phone at the hospital.

Her physical injuries are believed to be minor, but the nervousness was still evident in her voice as she waited to see a doctor at about 4 p.m.

As the bear first appeared about 2 feet away from her on a hiking trail between the Vincent Drive Bridge and Interstate 25, she said “I thought … ‘what am I going to do?'”

She walked quickly for a few seconds before her fear overcame her and she began to run. The 4-foot-tall brown bear galloped behind her for about 20 seconds until she reached the roadway at 1005 Garlock Way.

“I started screaming for help, but nobody could hear me,” she said.

Wildlife officers soon located and killed the female bear. No cubs were found nearby. Swendsen said she was going to see its body after she was checked out at the hospital.Colorado Springs police are still looking for the hit-and-run driver, a woman likely to be in her 70s driving a black four-door Mitsubishi sedan.

Joey Bunch: 303-954-1174 or jbunch@denverpost.com