Deputy ‘rescues' driver from spider on dashboard of car

CLACKAMAS COUNTY, Ore. — An Oregon sheriff’s deputy is a hero, at least to one woman who was paralyzed with fear after finding a creepy yellow spider on her car’s dashboard.

Clackamas County Deputy Lon Steinhauer was on his usual patrol route Wednesday morning when he spotted the female driver in distress on the side of the road. The Oregonian reported that the deputy pulled over to find out what was wrong.

"She was hysterical," a Clackamas County Sheriff's Office spokesperson told the newspaper. "It was a huge deal for her."

Photos on the agency's Facebook page show a grinning Steinhauer, who donned gloves for the job, removing the spider from the woman's car.

"A driver pulled over in distress and asked our deputies to remove a spider from the car's dashboard. Deputy Steinhauer was happy to (carefully) oblige," the Facebook post reads.

Officials did not specify what type of spider was terrorizing the driver, but a listing of local spiders compiled by the Oregonian last year lists a possible culprit, the goldenrod crab spider.

Though the moment was a lighthearted one, Sheriff’s Office officials pointed out that the extreme fear of spiders and other insects can occasionally become a danger. A driver in Portland rolled her vehicle last fall when a spider dropped down from her rearview mirror and startled her.

Statistic Brain Research Institute reports that more than 30 percent of the American population has a fear of spiders, or arachnophobia. It is the third most common phobia, behind the fear of public speaking and the fear of death.

Cox Media Group