Friends discover a bear in the back seat of their car … and she wanted out
Then, as they were in the kitchen ready to make breakfast for their crew -- nine former Pendleton Heights High School athletes who decided to take a summer trip together to Gatlinburg -- Trout tapped Sims on the shoulder.
"Look, there's a baby cub out on this tree," he said to Sims.
The two walked onto the balcony to get a better look at the miniature-sized grizzly. Still, they had no idea ...
"Then I looked to my right, and I noticed that Trout's car is shaking. And so I'm thinking, 'What is going on?'" said Sims, 19, who will be a sophomore at Wabash University in the fall. "And then I hear the car horn go."
What was going on inside Nick's car? Who was honking his horn? Who was big enough to make a car shake?
From the balcony, Sims could see through the front windshield. Something was in the back seat of that car. He went down to check it out, and that's when he saw what seemed inexplicable. Unbelievable. A bear in the back seat. And she wanted out.
"First off, I'm thinking, 'How did the bear get in there?' And then my second thought is, 'How am I going to get this bear out?' said Sims. He quickly shot a video of the bear to show Trout and the rest of the guys who, by this time, were all out of bed and going crazy.
Unfortunately, Trout knew what he had to do. He had to get that bear out of his car. As his friends huddled by the window, giving him solid, but distanced, support, he ran out from the bottom patio door. He sprinted to the car door, quickly swung it open and then sprinted back in.
The bear sat inside the car for another second or two, then she got out, looked around and walked away with her cub. When the guys went down to investigate, that's when they realized this bear wasn't messing around.
Mama bear had literally ravaged the inside of Trout's car, destroying the passenger seat door, ripping out the ceiling liner and wreaking havoc on the back seat. Trout's first thought was his mom.
"I'm just kind of freaking out because I had no clue what to do," said Trout, 19, who attends the United States Military Academy. "I wasn't expecting anything like this to happen. My first thought was I felt terrible about the car because it's my mom's car."
Trout's mom had loaned her son her maroon 2016 Chevy Malibu to drive to Tennessee. He broke the news to her via text.
Trout: No way, mom, I am so sorry.
Mom: For what?
Trout: A bear.
Mom: What?
Trout: In your car.
Mom: Send me pics.
And so, Trout sent his mom the photos who wasn't upset at all, just glad all the guys were OK. "My parents actually thought it was kind of funny how it happened," said Trout.
How it happened isn't exactly known. Trout is positive when he went down to his car Friday night to get his friend's charger that he had locked the car. "I distinctly remember locking it, and I hadn't been out to the car the rest of the night."
So, either Trout is mistaken, or mama bear knows how to pick locks. That, of course, is neither here nor there. The damage was done.
The bear left some clues. It was clear she had entered the car from the passenger door. And it was clear she had climbed into the back seat. Trout doesn't think she was trying to destroy the inside of his car, rather she had gotten herself into a pickle and was stranded from her cub.
Evidently, she knew how to open a car door from the outside but not from the inside.
"So she was stuck in the backseat tearing the roof and all the doors apart," Trout said. "It looks like she was trying to get out."
Come to find out, bears breaking into cars is a problem in the area. That's what the regulars told the guys. Amazingly, Trout ended up being one of the lucky ones. His car is drivable now that he finished ripping out the top liner so it wasn't draping down.
Trout will drive back home to Indiana in his bear-ravaged car Sunday morning with a story to tell. A story none of them were expecting, but will never forget.
"We haven't done anything like this before. So we just thought, 'You know, it's summer. We're all of age to go out somewhere on our own,'" said Sims. "So we just thought, 'What better place than Tennessee?'"
Follow IndyStar sports reporter Dana Benbow on X: @DanaBenbow. Reach her via email: dbenbow@indystar.com.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Friends discover a bear in the back seat of their car … she wanted out
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