Bear Dramatically Escapes From Van in Asheville, North Carolina

Nicole Minkin Lissenden captured video of the moment a bear broke out of the window of her family’s car in Asheville, North Carolina on September 16.

Lissenden told Storyful she and her friend were at her parents’ home in Asheville when her friend noticed the door to her Honda Odyssey was open. The pair went outside to close the door and her friend left. Lissenden then went back inside the home to put her daughter to sleep and noticed the windows to her van were foggy and saw a paw print. She quickly realized she had unwittingly locked a bear inside her van.

Lissenden called her husband Alex, and began to panic as she noticed the animal was getting more anxious to get out and set off the alarm, honked the horn, and rocked the van back and forth. "We tried to let the bear out using the remote sliding door opener, but the damage he did rendered that feature useless,’ she said.

Lissenden’s husband then used the key to open the door and rolled the window down slightly before the bear smashed the window

The bear left and the couple and their children inside were not harmed. The van was severely damaged with the seats ripped out, and car seats destroyed. Credit: Nicole Minkin Lissenden via Storyful