USA-Chicago: Squirrel injures politician who spoke out against squirrels
A Chicago politician was seriously injured when he crashed his bike into a squirrel – and he wonders if the smash-up was an act of rodent revenge.
“It felt like somebody hit me with a baseball bat, I didn’t immediately know what happened,” Brookins Jr. told The Post.
He flipped over the bike and crashed to the ground as the kamikaze squirrel got wrapped up in the spokes of his bike.
“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,” Brookins Jr. said, whose 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” and accused them for destroying the city’s garbage carts, costing taxpayers $1 million 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 ’em,” Brookins said at a city council meeting on Oct. 21, according to the Sun Times.
After the accident, he joked that squirrels must be out to get him after 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 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.
“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.
Nypost
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