A woman says she swerved for a deer and went off a cliff, then spent 7 hours yelling for help as a youth sailing team passed her Chevy in the bay

Two years ago, Washington resident Jazmin Harrington swerved to avoid a deer in a crash that left her stranded for over seven hours and ultimately cost her a foot. On the anniversary of the event, she took to TikTok to share the story, and the post racked up over 2.3 million views. It all started when she was driving home after a bartending shift. A deer leaped out in front of her car, and she swerved in panic, sending the car over a cliff.

She said that she blacked out after the crash and woke up to find herself sitting on the shore while her car was in the water at Massacre Bay. “I come to, and my car is facing me, and I’m like, damn. You know, first thing is like, well, I didn’t park there,” Harrington recounted in the video.

Despite suffering from a shattered foot, a fractured shoulder, a fractured back, and a fractured hip, she said she was initially in survival mode and did not feel much pain due to a massive adrenaline rush. So she was able to be proactive about getting help. “I hop on one foot to my car, and luckily, it was low tide,” she said. However, even though the water was only up to her knee, her car was “a bowl of soup,” and she couldn’t find her phone in the floating debris.

She then spent hours yelling for help

Harrington told her viewers that she knew her partner would have started a search for her, which is why she began calling for help. However, it took a long time for anyone to hear her. She watched a local sailing team passing by on the other side of the bay. “I’m like, not one of these f—ing kids is gonna realize… There’s a Chevy Equinox parked in the ocean. No one thinks that’s weird,” she said. Her survival joins other recent stories of people walking away from falls that could easily have been fatal, including a Kansas State student’s 70-foot fall from a highway overpass.

Eventually, around 10 AM, a construction worker on the other side of the bay heard her calls. The sheriff’s department had been part of the search since 4 AM, so help arrived quickly once she was found. “Two years later, I’m back, you know, eight surgeries later, one amputation, and I am finally on two feet again,” she said.

Many of the commenters were happy she got through the encounter. One wrote, “SEVEN HOURS is sooo long omg so happy you survived.” Another noted, “Oh boy, the relief your partner and friends must’ve felt seeing you alive after searching.” 

The story also kick-started a conversation on how to deal with deer. One user noted, “NEVER swerve. You’re better off braking and sliding into whatever it is in front of you. So lucky girl. Glad you’re still here.” 

According to Grinnell Mutual, drivers should never veer for deer. The guidance states, “If a deer jumps in front of your vehicle, don’t swerve. Instead, keep your hands on the steering wheel, and brake firmly while staying in your lane.” The guide warns that swerving can lead to hitting another vehicle or a stationary object, landing in a ditch, or rolling over, all of which can be more dangerous than hitting the animal itself.