Pregnant woman chased by bear, Gets hit by car

Talk about having a bad day. A pregnant woman was not only chased down by a brown bear, but got hit by a car in her attempt to get away.

It happened Thursday morning on a trail in Colorado Springs near woodman road and Vincent Drive.

On the trail, there are warnings about possible flash flooding. But nothing prepared a pregnant Ashley Swendsen for a dangerous encounter with wildlife.

"I heard a rustle. I looked behind me and it was a bear--2 feet away," says Swendsen, who is 6 months pregnant.

The 26-year-old kept on walking, and then noticed the bear was following her.

"I freaked out and start running. It was chasing me for about 20 seconds," she says.

She made it to the street. But her troubles were far from over.

"This lady hit me with her car. She wasn't going that fast. I just rolled off her car," she says.

An elderly woman hit her from behind then took off.

The female bear also took off. Officers later tracked it down about a mile away and tranquilized it near some homes.

"If it is the one and Division of Wildlife policy is any aggressive bears do have to be euthanized," says an unidentified division of wildlife officer.

It turned out to be the bear. Its fate decided, the DOW had no choice but to kill it.

"Bears not afraid of people are the most dangerous because they don't run away," says DOW spokesman Michael Seraphin.

"It's still sad. It spared me and it still has to die," says Swendsen. But she says she'll remember the bear in her own way.

"We're going to name the middle name of our baby, 'bear.'"

Police are looking for the woman who hit Swendsen for possible hit-and-run charges.

She is described as white, in her seventies and was driving a black 4-door sedan, possibly a Mitsubishi. It's unknown if there is any damage to the car.