National

Man woken up by deputy who finds bear in his car

ASHEVILLE, N.C. — Michael Watkins woke up to the sound of someone banging on his front door Wednesday morning, and found a local sheriff’s deputy standing outside his front door.

Watkins said he was surprised a deputy would even be in his Asheville, North Carolina neighborhood, because there’s very little crime there.

The deputy asked Watkins if he was aware of the situation going on in his driveway.

"Is there something wrong officer?” he asked the deputy. That's when he saw something he never expected to be inside his car.

There, looking back at him in the passenger seat of his car, was a bear – apparently attracted to the vehicle from a granola bar left inside.

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Watkins said he called the local game warden and snapped a few photos of the bear trapped inside.

When the warden arrived, Watkins said he acted like a bear being in his car was no big deal.

"(He) just walked over and opened the door and the bear shot down the hill," Watkins told WLOS-TV.

After the teenage bear took off into the woods, Watkins got a good look at the car – destroyed from the bear being inside.

Watkins found chunks of a seat missing, an airbag dangling from the ceiling and his son's car seat torn to shreds.

"The bear had already done tons of damage to the car - totaled it out.  He used the restroom in the trunk," Watkins said.

Luckily, Watkins said his insurance will cover the damage, despite an awkward call to his insurance company.

"The call was a little difficult. She said, 'You know, we don't get this very often,'" Watkins said the agent told him.

Watkins said he thought that would be the last time he the bear saw there – only to run across it again a couple days later.

“The really funny thing Is we were leaving the neighborhood and the bear was down there. So, he hasn't left yet," Watkins said.

Information from WLOS-TV and CNN used in this article.