Off-duty officer throttles coyote during playground attack
THORNWOOD, N.Y. (AP) — An off-duty police officer jumped on a coyote and throttled it as the animal attacked a 5-year-old girl on a suburban New York playground.
Kasey King-Petrellese told WNBC that the coyote appeared out of nowhere and bolted "like a cheetah" toward her daughter, Natalia, and 3-year-old son on Sunday in Thornwood.
As they fled toward their car, the animal gained on them, first menacing the boy.
"I took my foot and I kicked him as hard as I could in his face, which knocked him to the ground and he stumbled a little. And when he got up he swung over to my daughter's side and bit her arm," said King-Petrellese.
"It was trying to get my brother but it didn't," Natalia recounted. "It made me bleed on the arm.