Dispatcher Injured on Motorcycle By…

An off-duty Maine Department of Public Safety (DPS) dispatcher was injured during a Sunday motorcycle ride with a friend, when he was hit in the chest by a wild turkey. Night-shift dispatcher Jeffrey Russell, 23, was riding along Route 117 near South Paris around 4:30 p.m. when he approached a group of turkeys on the side of the road. The birds usually don’t fly, Fish and Game officials told reporters, but in this case, one turkey took flight, straight into Russell’s path. The turkey hit him in the chest and knocked him off the motorcycle. He was knocked unconscious despite wearing a helmet, but his riding partner was uninjured and was able to call for help. Russell, a 4-year veteran of the Gray barracks regional DPS comm center, was taken to the hospital and treated for a broken collarbone. As for the turkey, it was killed in the collision, and Russell’s friend took the bird…presumably for a meal.