WILTON – A school bus picking up students hit a deer Wednesday, causing a delay and the death of the deer, but no human injuries, police said.

The accident happened around 7 a.m., police officer Kevin McCutcheon said. Bus driver Jeanette Palumbaro had three middle and high school students in the bus already and was heading down McCrillis Corner Road when she saw the deer.

“She was going slow – not fast,” McCutcheon said. “A deer ran out in front.” She slowed down, and the deer jumped up and hit the bus’s mirror bracket, breaking its back.

“The deer was not shot in front of the children,” McCutcheon said. The students were between 15 and 20 minutes late for school, he said. The deer meat was given away.