Before Vincent Bingham's car crashed into a utility pole, he was driving with the windows down as the air conditioning was out and a Brood X cicada flew inside.
The 20-year-old said he remembers being surprised when hit in the face by the bug Monday as he drove his 2017 Chevrolet Cruz Monday in Cincinnati's East End. The car crashed into a utility pole in the 2600 block of Riverside Drive.
"This just kind of flew in the window out of nowhere and you get a little startled and have a reaction when something comes at your face," said the New Richmond resident.
The car ended up running into a light pole while he was reacting, he said. Deployed airbags filled the windows.
"They don't bother me," he said of the bugs typically. "I let them land on me."
Bingham said he is OK beyond some minor bruises and 'a busted nose.'
Family members came to the crash scene to help. They let loose with cicada jokes to make light of the situation, he said. When friends heard about the cicadas, the jokes flew even faster.
"People that I know are basically joking, one of my friends, when he heard about it, he started calling me nicknames like the cicada master," Bingham said.
Bingham said he has full coverage car insurance, but his rental car ends Friday. So, he's started a GoFundMe to raise money to help buy a new car. He's unsure how we will be getting back and forth to Rumpke in Norwood where he works as a driver after four days of a rental car is over. It was the first car he was paying for himself.
Cincinnati Police Department released an officer-worn body camera video of the crash response on Thursday.
Bingham got up from where he was sitting on the curb near the car when an officer asked him what happened.
"I was driving, and I'm guessing it was a cicada that flew in and smacked me right in the face," Bingham told the officer.
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