Miami Mice

Very strange news item I read about today.

Rat causes fatal car crash, Miami rescue says
Critter gnaws through power link and causes traffic lights to go out

One person was killed and five others injured after a rat caused a car crash in Miami Sunday night, authorities said.

The bizarre incident happened just after midnight in the area of North Miami Avenue and 29th Street when the rat caused an explosion that knocked out street lights at the intersection.

"Believe it or not, a rat was at the top of one of the light poles...and chewed through one of the fusible links at the top of the pole, this caused the street lights to go out," said Capt. Joseph Zahralban, with the City of Miami Fire Rescue.

Zahralban said a group of people from a nearby bar went to investigate what caused the explosion and were standing on the sidewalk when two cars collided because the lights were out.

.."As they were looking at the rat, two vehicles approached the intersection...these vehicles collided and unfortunately hit some of the pedestrians," Zahralban said.

One person died at the scene. Five others were rushed to nearby hospitals. They are in stable to serious condition, Zahralban said.

Frank Negron said he went to investigate the explosion and was shocked at what he saw.

"I saw the explosion and all the lights went out," said Negron. "We were trying to figure out what was the cause of the explosion and then someone said 'there's a dead rat here on the floor' and sure enough it was smoking."

When the crash happened, Negron said, his friends were hit by the cars.

"A few of my friends who were standing on the sidewalk got pinned down by the vehicle, we had to lift up the vehicle and get a young lady out and another young man," said Negron, who was still bewildered by the chances of the incident happening. "One in a million."