Hey, get me-owt!
Police pull off one purr-fect cat save
It was the cutest rescue of their careers.
Two NYPD Emergency Service Unit officers plucked a stranded Staten Island kitty from behind the front bumper of a police SUV, freeing the critter with all nine lives intact.
Officers Raymond Ragione and Matthew Kobel were beaming after they used a jack to raise the car and then removed the left bumper to end the 6week-old cat’s trip to Brooklyn. The kitty, after journeying to the 71st Precinct under the hood of a Toyota Camry, spent hours inside the police vehicle.
Once rescued, the cat was delivered to the ASPCA to find a home.
The kitty’s day started after it slipped under the hood of the car parked outside the Staten Island home of Louis Pena, 50, a driver for the Metro Luxury car service. He recalled ignoring the meows that greeted his arrival.
“I didn’t think anything of it,” said Pena. “I live in a residential area with lots of stray cats.”
Only after zipping over the Verrazano Bridge to Brooklyn did Pena learn about the scaredy cat in his car.
“A woman came by with some dogs and said, ‘There’s a cat stuck in your car,’” he said. “I heard ‘Meow, meow.’”
Pena’s Crown Heights passenger arrived and directed him to the precinct for help. The ESU cops were summoned to free the animal, only to discover the cat was a flight risk.
The kitten darted to the nearest police SUV and clambered into the car’s body, evadomg capture and ignoring the can of Friskies Turkey and Giblets paté left to lure it outside.
The missing mouser showed similar disdain toward a bowl of milk and several concerned cops making meowing sounds before the rescue.