Watch: Deer Runs Through DC-Area Subway, Startles People

ARLINGTON, VA — A deer sprinted through a subway station near Washington, D.C. and startled at least one woman waiting for a train. It happened around 8:30 a.m. Tuesday at the Crystal City Station in Arlington, Virginia.

Video posted on Twitter by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority shows the deer sprint seemingly out of nowhere into the view of surveillance cameras. The animal runs on the platform — parallel to the flashing lights on the tracks — before hoping down on the tracks. The deer then hops back onto the platform.

Video shows the man come close to a man staring at his phone. When he looks up, the animal hops onto a bench, then back onto the platform and onto the tracks as a train rolls into the station. The deer crosses to the other side, where a woman waits for her train and puts on what looks like lipstick or lip balm. She gets quite a jolt when the deer sprints along the platform and then hops back down onto the tracks within feet of where she's standing. The woman looks around, seemingly in disbelief of what just happened, and her mouth drops.

The transit agency says the deer was able to safely exit through a tunnel.

Metro spokesman Dan Stessel told The Washington Post that it appears the deer entered the subway tunnel from a wooded area between National Airport and Crystal City. If you're commute was slow around that time, that might be because trains were traveling slower.

Seems like *everyone* wants to get aboard the @Capitals train this morning! (Crystal City Station, 8:30 a.m. today -- this little guy somehow wandered into the tunnel & ended up at the station. Safely exited through the tunnel back toward DCA.) #OHDEER #ALLCAPS #WMATA #StanleyCup pic.twitter.com/3ibeGuYwUe
— Metro (@wmata) June 12, 2018

Photo credit: Jim Cumming/Shutterstock