Chicken Drives Off After Windshield Shattered
posted July 14, 2006
A man dressed in a chicken suit who was heckling Senate candidate Bob Corker at the Election Office at Fourth and Georgia on Friday drove away after running over a Corker volunteer.
The volunteer, Bryan Shannon, 30, said he had gone out to try to take a picture of the heckler when he took his suit off when the incident occurred.
He said he was bumped by the car as he stood in front of it with his cell phone camera, then hit again and thrown on the car, then hit a third time and thrown against the windshield.
The man, driving a black 1994 Volvo with Shelby County tags, was gone when police arrived at Fifth and Lookout streets.
Mr. Shannon went to Erlanger North Hospital to be checked out Friday afternoon. He said he was not seriously hurt, but had a headache, his hands were cut, and he had shards of glass in his arm.
He said, "It sounded kind of ludicrous to be telling the police officer that I just got hit by a man wearing a chicken suit.
"I'm happy I was not more seriously hurt. It's a little frustrating. It's just a political campaign."
He said he could not say for sure which political camp the chicken was from, though he said he had his suspicions.
Mr. Shannon said there were three men in bright yellow chicken suits at a Senate debate in Knoxville on Thursday night. He said he does not know if the chicken who ran over him is one of those three.
Some Corker opponents have said he is "chicken" for not appearing in all of a series of radio debates set up by the Ed Bryant campaign.
Mr. Shannon, who is from Chattanooga, said the incident happened after a couple hundred Corker supporters went together to the election office to cast their ballots on the first day of early voting.
He said the man in the chicken suit was carrying a sign calling the former Chattanooga mayor a chicken. He said the heckler was weaving in and out of the line of Corker backers.
He said afterwards he decided to follow the chicken back to his car to get a picture of him with his cell phone camera when the chicken took his suit off at his car. The 6'3" Shannon said the chicken saw him following him and started to run. He said he kept up with him and then stood in front of his car with the camera ready. He said the man never took off the top of the chicken suit as he revved up the car.
He said the man bumped him with the car, then drove it forward with more force, causing him to fall against the front of the Volvo.
He said the chicken then backed up and started to speed away, hitting him on his left side as he did. He said he was thrown against the passenger side of the front windshield, shattering it.
Mr. Shannon said he memorized the chicken's tag number and gave it to police. He said he heard the officer call the number in and heard the voice on the other line give an exact description of the black Volvo.
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