Politician injured after squirrel that was ‘hellbent on revenge’ careers into his bike a week after he labelled them pests
Howard Brookins Jr left with six missing teeth, a busted lip and a facial fracture after rodent threw itself between spokes as he cycled through Chicago, Illinois
AN anti-squirrel has been seriously injured after one of the rodents careered into his bike ‘like a suicide bomber’ in an act of ‘revenge.
Howard Brookins Jr, an alderman in Chicago, Illinois, recently branded the animals pests for damaging city property.
But around a week after his harsh words against the “aggressive” critters, it seems one decided to get some payback for its species.
The politician was cycling along a trail next to a waterway that runs through the city on November 13 when a squirrel darted out and cut him off.
“It felt like somebody hit me with a baseball bat, I didn’t immediately know what happened,” Brookins Jr. told .
His bike flipped over and he crashed to the ground as the kamikaze squirrel got caught in the spokes of his front wheel.
“I’m missing maybe 5 or 6 teeth, my lip and mouth was busted open and I had a fracture in my face around my nose area,” said Brookins Jr, who is going to need plastic surgery after the accident.
But the alderman believes his fate was sealed weeks before the accident when he denounced eastern gray squirrels as “aggressive”.
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Brookins accused the rodents of destroying the city’s rubbish trucks, costing taxpayers $1million (£800,000) a year.
“It’s a pet peeve. It does invoke some giggles. But we are spending too much money on replacing garbage carts because the squirrels continue to eat through them,” Brookins said at a city council meeting on October 21, according to the Sun Times.
After the accident he joked that squirrels must be out to get him following his nasty comments.
“I can think of no other reason for this squirrel’s actions than that it was like a suicide bomber, getting revenge,” Brookins Jr told the Chicago Tribune.
“It was kind of ironic I was talking about aggressive squirrels eating through garbage cans and costing the city money not less than a week prior and my demise in a biking accident would be a squirrel,” he laughed.
“It’s something you never think would happen.”
He said he wanted to get the squirrel he hit “taxidermied” so it could serve as a reminder that “no good deed goes unpunished” – but the crumbled critter was thrown out by cops and couldn’t be saved.
Brookins Jr admitted he’s now having a little bit of squirrel-related PTSD and is looking forward to his dog getting back from a grooming appointment.
“I can’t wait until she’s back so she can chase them out of my backyard again,” he chuckled.
He’s taking some time to work from home because he “still look[s] like Frankenstein” but is expected to make a full recovery.
Despite the humorous attitude Brookins Jr is having towards the debacle, the half a dozen or so teeth he’s missing will keep him on a liquid diet well past Thanksgiving.
He said: “No turkey for me! I may be able to eat some stuffing but I can’t eat anything really solid or that’s not mushy… I was really looking forward to having some ham at Thanksgiving – that is what I will miss.”
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