"I heard glass breaking and I thought someone was breaking in," he said of the incident Monday morning which awakened him as the deer broke through a window. "The next thing I know, a deer is running toward my room."
The animal ran into the bathroom, and the family locked it inside. But the Falkners did not immediately know that their pit bull, Shadow, was inside that room with the deer.
The deer kicked on the water, flooding the apartment, and briefly knocked the dog unconscious.
Police were able with the family's help to get the dog out of the bathroom, while leaving the deer confined, and Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources officials then tranquilized the doe and took it away.
Police Officer Victor Cera said the deer was apparently behind the apartment building when it was spooked by dogs let out of a kennel. Falkner said he believed the doe came through the window to elude children who cornered it near two 7-foot-high fences behind the apartment.
"In the 16 years that I've been doing this, I've seen all kinds of stuff," Cera said. "But this is probably the most bizarre."
Falkner said it could have been a lot worse.
"Imagine if it would have been this window," he said as he pointed to the window of a nearby room where his children, ages 5 and 6, had been sleeping when the deer arrived. "After this incident, it makes me think it's safer to stay on the second floor than the first floor."
