Pregnant Woman Chased By Bear, Hit By Car

(AP)  A pregnant woman who was fleeing a bear when she was struck by a slow-moving car said she would honor the euthanized animal by giving her baby the middle name "Bear."

Ashley Swendsen, 26, said she thought the bear followed her more out of curiosity than malice because it kept a distance of about 10 feet Thursday morning on a hiking trail in northwestern Colorado Springs.

As she ran, she thought, "If it was going to hurt me, it already would have."

Swendsen managed to scramble up an embankment and was crossing the street when she was hit by a slow-moving car. Although she was not seriously injured, she was taken to a hospital as a precaution because she was pregnant.

Police said they're looking for the driver of the car that hit Swendsen. The driver stopped and spoke to her but left before police arrived.

Swendsen said she first spotted the bear as it was coming out of a creek.

"I didn't know what to do, so I just kept walking," she said. "I wasn't going to start sprinting."

But she started running when the bear moved toward her.

The Colorado Division of Wildlife said the chase happened in an area where bears are common. Division spokesman Michael Seraphin said the brown-colored North American black bear was tranquilized and later euthanized after Swendsen identified it.

Swendsen said she was sad to hear about the bear's death.

"Yeah, because the bear spared me, and then it had to die," she said.

Swendsen, who is about five months pregnant, said she doesn't know the sex of her baby but will give it the middle name "Bear" whether it's a boy or a girl.

Local Video from CBS4 in Denver

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[peopleangnstmorons]

hey stephs,
are you really as moronic as you sound? as a parent of a 3 year old, are you allowing it to roam unsupervised? if so, then you deserve what you get. this is an area where wildlife abounds. you have to teach your children to respect the beings which were here long before you or your sorry family. before you can counter with "oh no!, you have never had a child!(or whatever hysterical means you feel you need to use), i have raised 4 children less than 3 blocks from where this "alleged" attack took place. we have been on walks and hikes and have encountered (oh forfend! a bear, or coyotes,or bobcats, or foxes, or maybe even a chipmunk), but have never had a problem. they have always retreated when treated with caution and respect. are you not educated in dealing with wildlife, or are you just allowing your child to run free and "the devil take the hindmost?" you need to stop being so concerned that your child should just be able to run amok , and start concerning youself with instilling values. this world was not meant to be your child's "playground". there are dangers and perils that your poor child will have to learn to accept and deal with without killing everything that threatens it.

[galaxydave46]

The action of killing a bear is another bad decision by law enforcement. This is the typical mindset of police that shouldn't be working as officers of the law. I hope one day that having a college education becomes a nationwide prerequisite to getting a job as a police officer. At least it seems they used a tranquilzing form of euthanasia even though I doubt thay have enough knowledge to correctly administer it. Police are the laziest creatures on the face of the earth. Not all of them of course, but the majority of them. The good ones are few, the bad ones run the show, and the followers who don't even have a nutsac don't take a moral stand. The taxpaying public are powerless to effectively make any changes and the police are the judge,jury and executioner and are rarely held accountable for their blunders. Most of this would be avoided if only there were qualified, educated people holding these positions. It reminds me ofthe ever reaccuring scenerio where a distraught knife weilding offender is shot down by numerous polce officers after refusing to drop his weapon. I read about these incidents year after year. The offender is always shot to death? Why can't numerous police officers wound the offender disabling him instead of killing him? Why couldn't they have relocated the animal instead of killing it? It's because of a mindset predisposed to violence, ignorance, and laziiness.

[un_BEAR_able]

A woman runs from a bear (which really was not being aggressive, by her own words). Officials come to area and KILL the bear. What's wrong with this picture? The bears were here first before any humans ever were! Ever hear of "Relocation"!? Just because you have a badge and a gun doesn't give you the right to "Hunt" you #@&#@!. Animals are going extinct everyday on this planet and you go around killing magnificent animals because we encroached on their territory!? What's wrong with us humans?? Somebody should euthanize that woman for being a nuisance to drivers. If she didn't know, it's the responsibility of the pedestrian to cross streets safely, bears "half heartedly" following you or not. Attention is on a ditsy woman that doesn't know how to cross a street safely?? What about the actual KILLING of a living entity by us stupid humans (instead of relocating the animal)? Doesn't that deserve any attention? Where's our priorities?

[bryans01]

the bear was trying to warn her about the car coming down the road ,but she didnt listen,blame the poor bear.

[akpals]

Division spokesman Michael Seraphin said the brown-colored North American black bear was tranquilized and later euthanized after Swendsen identified it.

How did she "identify" the bear?? Did it have unique characteristisc? Was there a bear line up? Mug Shots?***??

[animaladvcate]

i must add a post-script to my previous comment. i live in the same neighborhood where this alleged "attack " took place. a few years ago, i encountered a bear while on a walk with my dog early one morning. we backed away, keeping the bear in view. it took a few steps towards us, "woofed", and then went back to raiding the garbage it was originally occupied with. we hurried (did not run) back the way we came. when i got home, i called the division of wildlife to report the sighting. the response was ,"are you sure it wasn't a big dog?" i was a little offended because i am 50+ years old and certainly know what a bear looks like. no signs were put up warning of a bear in the area. this bear was obviously not afraid of humans and was comfortable around their homes. so my question has to be....... why did the division of wildlife euthanize this particular bear and took no action with my report? media attention? most likely. i suppose if i had run screaming down the street and caused a traffic hazard they may have done something. an interesting situation to ponder........

[animaladvcate]

i have to comment on this terribly unfortunate incident. unfortunate mostly for the bear. anyone who lives in colorado should know that encounters with wildlife are pretty common. they should also know that the worst thing you can do when encountering a bear is to run away screaming. all wild animals (and a good number of breeds of dogs) have something called "prey drive". that's what allows them to survive. the real tragedy of this incident is that a wild animal (who by her own admission wasn't really threatening her) had to pay with its life, and she came very close to losing her own by running hysterically into traffic and almost being run down by a very unlucky elderly lady. this stupid twit (unmarried, pregnant, and obviously too moronic to live) has had her moment of notoriety. also the media has once again risen to the occasion and blown it way out of proportion. "pregnant women chased by bear and hit by car". i think that the true facts are probably much different from the media hype. this woman should get a "darwin award" (unfortunately too late to keep her from reproducing).

[nomeat]

it doesnt matter where the bear was. it shouldntn have been killed just because its a bear. the lady screamed and ran. what do you expect the bear to do? but there are way better ways to get rid of a bear than just kill it. if it is in a residential neighborhood, then find a way to transport it, but there is ABSOLUTELY NO need to kill it.

[danalauren1968]

Ignorant, Hysterical woman! So "scared" - running around like a lune she gets hit by a car! And the bear dies!

Who the hell are these trigger happy "cops" in Denver?????

[mainemade]

I dont get it. If the bear wanted to attack or kill her he would of. He kept his distance and didn't "charge" her. Yet they kill it. Why? I doesn't make any sense.