One of four deer that crashed into a self-storage facility security gate on Jan. 26 became so tangled in the gate's aluminum bars that police were called to free it.

The first deer was apparently the most determined to get inside and managed to wedge itself halfway inside the fence.

Helpless, the animal flailed its legs with such force that it rubbed the fur from its midsection.

"I thought she was going to have a heart attack.

Her fur was flying," said Rowan the facility manager, who called police.

The storage facility opened in mid-December in what used to be a wooded area.

Either "something spooked them" or the animals forgot the property was now a storage facility, Rowan said.

After the first deer banged into the gate and got stuck, a second deer slammed into the gate but backed out before becoming ensnared.

Two more deer slammed into the deer as they scrambled to escape the fence.

The first deer was apparently too confused to try backing out.

When police arrived, their first thought was to shoot the trapped deer, said Capt. Joseph Gleason.

But because of the deer's proximity to buildings and the highway, it was deemed too unsafe to discharge a firearm. So two officers used bolt cutters to open the fence.

The freed deer darted through the complex before finding a fence to jump and escape.

Police followed it to make sure it was unhurt.