Deer enters The 'Field Market through glass window in front door

Mansfield News Journal

Hans Niederhauser fixes the front door glass window Thursday at The 'Field Market, 101 N. Main St., in downtown Mansfield after a deer broke into the business around 6:30 a.m. The deer left the market through the same door.

MANSFIELD - A deer broke into The 'Field Market around 6:30 a.m. Thursday downtown at 101 N. Main St.

He jumped through the glass window of the front door and eventually left through the same doorway after startling employee Tom Hirst who was in the kitchen area prepping deli sandwiches prior to the store's opening at 7 a.m.

Hirst, who said he had headphones on at the time, said he heard a noise and then saw a deer flopping around on the hardwood floor. He said the wooden door, which has a full-length glass window inside the trim, was locked.

Tom Hirst, an employee at The 'Field Market downtown on North Main Street, Thursday described the deer incident to customers.

"First he tried to get out the front window and that would've been disastrous plus the deer could've been hurt too," he said Thursday, describing the incident to media and customers.

"He jumped over the refrigerated case and he cleared it and then he knocked the water hose fixture (over the sink) loose from the wall a bit," Hirst said.

Tom Hirst, an employee at The 'Field Market downtown on North Main Street Thursday showed media the nozzle in the kitchen sink area which the deer knocked loose.

Hirst said he opened the back door thinking the deer might go right on through the business.

"But he came around and ran straight at the front door and didn't break anything," Hirst said in amazement, as a display of olives and other items, all in glass jars, were not even knocked over along the deer's path.

"The only thing that was knocked over was a bag of chips and Ramen noodles," he said. "It's actually incredible nothing else was broken."

"I turned and was yelling, 'Hey calm down, easy.' I was just trying maybe to calm it down or something because it was freaking out and it turned and ran at me and jumped that back dairy cooler and landed onto the ground and I jumped out (of that area) to the other side over the bar and tried to open the back door thinking it might keep going out the back," Hirst said.

"It just rounded the corner and jumped out the front door through the window," he said.

"It just took off," he said.

Kirst said the deer, which appeared to be young, was only injured slightly.

"It all happened so fast," he said, telling customers there was no time to get a photograph or video.

Hans Niederhauser repairs the door where a deer jumped through Thursday morning at the downtown North Main Street shop called The 'Field Market.

Hans Niederhauser, who works for Engweiler Properties and the owner of the building, said he couldn't believe it when he got the repair call as he worked on fixing it Thursday morning.

Jim Smith, who with his wife Cathy, own The Coney Island Diner across North Main Street, said he was mopping the floor and heard a boom. His wife was in the back of the restaurant.

"I though another T-bone on Fourth Street," he said.

He looked outside and saw a deer break out of The 'Field Market, which recently opened downtown.

"I talked to that guy and he was scared. Deer are dangerous," Smith said.

lwhitmir@nncogannett.com

419-521-7223

Twitter: @LWhitmir