ELLISVILLE • A 53-year-old woman suffered a severe head injury Tuesday when she was struck by a deer racing through a parking lot off Manchester Road.

The woman had just climbed out of a car at Arvin Auto Service, 15971 Manchester Road, when two deer ran through the parking lot at 4:37 p.m., said Bud Mantle, chief medical officer at the Metro West Fire Protection District.

One of the deer hit the woman and knocked her to the ground unconscious. The deer then crashed into a Shelter Insurance office next door, cracking the window.

The woman, who lives in Ballwin, was in critical, but stable condition at Mercy Hospital in Creve Coeur, Mantle said. Police have not released her name. At the time she was injured, her two adult daughters were with her, Mantle said.

Mantle wasn't sure if the woman suffered the injury when her head hit the ground or during the actual collision.

"I can't imagine the impact that woman must have felt," said Lori Kelling, president of the West County Chamber of Commerce.

The chamber is next door to the Shelter Insurance office. Kelling was sitting at her desk when she heard what sounded like an explosion. At first, she thought the woman had been hit by car.

The woman awoke as paramedics arrived, Kelling said. She was disoriented and complained of feeling sick.

Ellisville city officials in recent months have talked about ways to curtail the deer population, including controlled hunts in the Roger Klamberg Woods Conservation Area.

The Missouri Department of Conservation estimates that the city has 65 deer per square mile, well above the 22 deer per square mile that the department recommends.

Ellisville Mayor Matt Pirrello said he and others are "hoping and praying" the woman recovers.

But the incident was so unusual that it won't cause the city to act with any more urgency regarding an abundance of deer.

"That was something that is so freak and so obscure that there is really no way to react to it," he said. "Have you ever heard of that ever happening, anywhere?"

EDITOR'S NOTE: An earlier version of this story misidentified the fire district where Bud Mantle works. This version has been updated.