Did it “teleport” or just “jump”? I can confirm there’s a bug (since more than a year now, not sure if a bug report exists yet), where creatures can/do jump a few tiles if they are near a wall or other structure (however, they can’t jump into the same tile as you are and it will/would not end in the player’s death).
It’s possible to easily replicate this bug by setting the speed to the lowest possible value (1%), start a new world and chase around some wildlife (it’s visible on some of the still moving Zombies too, but it’s harder to pin down what actually happens). If you chase (for example) a squirrel in a straight line towards a tree, it will jump diagonally a few blocks, more than its walkspeed would allow.
Settings: Circular distances activated, z-levels deactivated (might work with other settings too).
Anyway, back to the topic: I agree, it’s a bit too harsh. If I was in that situation, I guess I would savescum (shame on me 
)… I quite like the idea of Litppunk, maybe add a weak explosion on top too or something along these lines…