‘Afraid he was going to make me lunch’: Coyote chases woman riding motorized scooter

MESA, Ariz. (KPHO/Gray News) – A woman said she was chased by a coyote in Arizona on Wednesday while riding her motorized scooter home to her senior living facility.

Candice Morrison said she is convinced the coyote would have attacked her if a bystander had not stepped in.

Morrison said she was taking her daily stroll around the neighborhood on her scooter when a man stopped his car next to her, telling her a coyote was chasing her about eight feet behind.

“I said, ‘What?!’ And looked back and was like, ‘Oh my god.’ Couldn’t go fast enough,” Morrison said.

She said her scooter only travels 6 mph, and she was racing home.

“I rolled into my facility and the concierge said, ‘Are you OK?’ And I started crying. I said, ‘There’s a coyote out there,’” Morrison said. “I was afraid he was going to make me lunch.”

The man who warned Morrison about the coyote followed her home until she was safe inside the senior living facility.

“He’s a guardian angel, because I was afraid,” Morrison said. “I think the car scared him (the coyote). It came right up to our property.”

Within the last month, there have been multiple run-ins with coyotes across the Valley. In separate cases, two toddlers were attacked in north Scottsdale. Luckily, they weren’t seriously hurt.

The Arizona Game and Fish Department is warning people to stay vigilant. Officials said the root cause of human and wildlife conflict is giving the animals easy access to food and water. Once animals like coyotes associate people with food, they lose their fear.

Morrison said she is thankful to be safe, but she worries this could happen again.

“I need to get some mace, I think,” she said.

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