Content
Skip to Main ContentAccessibility Help
As It Happens

Chicago politician blames 'bad karma' and a vengeful squirrel for bike accident

Alderman Howard Brookins Jr. tells us about the extent of his injuries after a squirrel got caught in the spokes of his bicycle. The accident comes after Brookins spoke out about squirrels that were destroying the garbage bins in his neighbourhood.
CBC Radio ·
Chicago alderman Howard Brookins Jr. was biking when he was attacked by a squirrel. Just a few weeks before, the politician criticized the rodent "pests" for chewing through garbage bins. (Howard Brookins Jr./Twitter/Facebook)

Read Story Transcript

Howard Brookins Jr. learned the hard way — mess with the squirrels and there may be consequences.

Recently, the Chicago alderman spoke out against the rodents at a city council meeting. He pushed for a campaign to put an end to their destructive behaviour — namely, chewing through garbage bins in his neighbourhood. Not long afterward, he had a painful encounter with a squirrel that left him badly hurt. It was even worse for the small beast.

I think it's some kind of bad karma and the squirrel was trying to get back at me.- Howard Brookins, Chicago alderman
"I wish I could have seen it happen," Brookins tells As It Happens host Carol Off. "All of a sudden, it felt like somebody hit me in the face with a baseball bat."
Chicago alderman Howard B. Brookins Jr. is undeterred by the squirrel attack and says he will "double down" on his efforts to stop the pesky rodents. (Howard B. Brookins Jr./Facebook/Gabriel Bouys/AFP/Getty Images/)

Brookins was on his bike. Next thing he knew he was on the ground with a crowd of concerned onlookers standing over him, telling him to be still.

What felt like a "baseball bat" was actually Brookins face-planting into the solid ground, after being violently thrown from his bicycle.

"When I asked what happened one of them said, 'Well, we looked at your bike over there and there's a squirrel caught in the spokes,'" Brookins recalls.
A squirrel lodged itself in the front wheel of Howard Brookins Jr.'s bike, sending the alderman flying. (Howard B. Brookins Jr./Facebook)

As the photo evidence shows, a squirrel had jumped into Brookins' path, lodged itself in the front wheel of his bike and paid the ultimate price for the rodent uprising.

"It is a bit of irony that, less than three weeks later, I would befall this type of accident at the hands, or the paws, of a squirrel," Brookins admits. "I think it's some kind of bad karma and the squirrel was trying to get back at me."
Evidence of garbage bins destroyed by the squirrels. (Howard B. Brookins Jr.)

The accident left Brookins in rough shape.

"I have several missing and broken teeth, fractures in my face, busted lip," Brookins explains. "I had to have surgery on my nose that was torn away. It had to be sewn back."

That said, Brookins is undeterred. He is adamant that he'll "double down" and continue the fight against the rodents, which he says are costing Chicago thousands of dollars.  

"They may have formed a union to get rid of me," Brookins says. "By next year, hopefully, we'll have a solution to the squirrels that eat through our trash cans — or maybe we'll have a different commissioner."

Chicago squirrels aren't the only ones bringing down cyclists. After our interview, we received this tweet from a listener in Toronto: 

More from this episode