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Runaway Bull Leads Police on Hourslong Chase Through Queens

By  Trevor Kapp Ewa Kern-Jedrychowska and Aidan Gardiner | February 21, 2017 11:11am | Updated on February 21, 2017 2:35pm

 A bull was roaming around Jamaica Tuesday morning.
A bull was roaming around Jamaica Tuesday morning.
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DNAinfo/Trevor Kapp

JAMAICA — A runaway bull was chased for hours through Jamaica Tuesday.

The bovine escapee broke out of a slaughterhouse at 151-24 Beaver St. about 10 a.m., starting an hourslong romp through Jamaica, police said. Slaughterhouse staff couldn't immediately be reached for comment.

The bull later died, though the cause was not immediately clear, police said.

Passersby ended up getting caught up in the stand-off, some of them sitting in their cars for more than an hour while police tried to contain the animal, which officers said was a bull.

"We were on our way to a funeral and just as I got in the car, we saw police. I said, 'Oh s--t, there's a bull!'" said Dorothy Bailey, 68.

 A bull was on the loose in Jamaica, Queens on Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2017.
A bull was on the loose in Jamaica, Queens on Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2017.
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"We tried to drive off but it was running beside us. He was big and black. He was a few feet away. He looked like he was just going to charge."

NYPD officers managed to corner it in the backyard of a house on Marsden Street, near Foch Boulevard, for about an hour before it broke loose again, charging through a group of about 30 people and making a fresh bid for freedom.

"A cop ran out yelling 'Move! Everybody run!' Then this cow came charging down the street," a DNAinfo New York reporter who was at the scene said.

"I dove behind a door and it ran past."

It was chased by police in cars and appeared to have been shot by tranquilizer darts.

"The bull went into a neighbor's back yard," said Bailey's 52-year-old daughter who goes by the same name.

"There was a long standoff. The bull would disappear and then come back again. You could see he'd been tranquilized. I saw six darts but they had no impact."

At several points, the sedatives would force the animal to the ground, but it got up again, neighbors said.

"They shot him three times. Three different officers shot him. He stood up. He'd rest a little and get back on his feet," said Valerie Valgean, 51.

"You could see he was breathing heavily but he had more fight in him. He walked to the front yard to see which way he could go and he jumped a fence."

It was finally caught at 12:20 p.m. at 115-43 158th St., near 116th Avenue, a police spokeswoman said.

The ASPCA took custody of the animal, an NYPD spokesman said. Officials from the organization didn't immediately return a request for comment.