LA MARQUE, Texas A man blamed a low-flying pelican and a dropped cell phone for his veering his million-dollar sports car off a road and into a salt marsh near Galveston. The accident happened Nov. 11 on the frontage road of Interstate 45 northbound in La Marque, about 35 miles southeast of Houston.

The man told of driving his luxury, French-built Bugatti Veyron when the bird distracted him, said La Marque police Lt. Greg Gilchrist. The motorist dropped his cell phone, reached to pick it up and veered off the road and into the salt marsh. The car was half-submerged in the brine about 20 feet from the road when police arrived.

A 2006 Bugatti Veyron recently was offered for sale in Jonesboro, Ark., for $1.25 million.