Click the play button on the video window to the see the storyAs the Cota family made their way home to Glendale from their cabin in Payson last Sunday, they spotted a herd of elk crossing Highway 260.
The Cotas stopped to take some pictures with a disposable camera.
Click the slideshow link to the left to see the photo"I saw (a) white truck coming up so I started flashing my lights," said Alfred Cota. "I knew this guy was going to hit (the elk)."
As Birdie Cota snapped her first picture she captured the impact of an oncoming truck hitting one of the elk.
"When the truck and the elk hit, it sounded like two vehicles hitting," said Birdie Cota. "That's how hard and loud it hit."
Birdie Cota didn't even realize she got the shot until nearly a week later when she took the pictures to a drug store to have them developed.
"The lady asked me, 'How did (you) get that picture,'" said Birdie Cota. "I said, 'What picture?' She (the clerk) said all the employees were looking at my picture."
The Cotas still can't believe what they saw that day, much less caught on film.
They're happy the driver of the truck escaped the accident without injury.
"He goes, 'I've been driving this road for 12 years and never had a near miss,'" said Alfred Cota.
"'Within seven days, I've totaled two trucks for the same reason within a mile of each other.'"
