This engine was really purring!
Heroic Windsor Terrace students, motorists, and a pair of police officers joined fur-ces to rescue a hapless 2-month-old kitten that ran inside the wheel of a running car on Ocean Parkway on Monday afternoon — saving both the cat and the drivers’ faith in humanity.
“The community was unbelievable, and the two cops, it was so nice to see the police officers do a really wonderful job,” said Geraldine Cassone, the Windsor Terrace resident whose car became a temporary refuge for the frightened fur ball, and is now its adoptive parent. “I’m so happy to be a New Yorker after experience I had today.”
Cassone says the high-stakes ordeal began at around 12:35 pm, at the service road leading from Park Circle onto Ocean Parkway, where she spotted the little lady scurrying through traffic and slammed down on the brakes.
The kind-hearted driver leapt from her vehicle and beckoned for the wayward feline with open arms, but the rascal went for the wheel-well of her 2010 Subaru Outback instead.
And that is where she stayed for more than 20 minutes, as Cassone, passers by, and drivers stuck in gridlock behind her kitty-laden crossover tried in vain to urge the cat from its rubbery refuge.
Eventually, Cassone corralled a few high-school students to help roll the car over to the curb — relieving the pent-up traffic and catching the eyes of Officers Christopher Rinelli and Kenia Marte, who rushed over to lend a hand.
The cops then worked diligently for two-and-a-half hours to liberate the mini mouser, eventually using a jack to lift the car up and grab the grungy gal from underneath, according to Cassone. At one point, Rinelli was literally on his back in the snow straining the save the kitty, she said.
“He was lying on the ground trying to get it,” said Cassone. “They were just unbelievable.”
Cassone — a pet lover who formerly owned a three-legged dog and a squirrel monkey — says either she, or any one of her three kids, will now adopt the kitten, which is still unnamed.
“She’s beautiful,” she said. “She’s going to get a good home at my house or with one of my children.”
As of Monday afternoon, the kitty was at Sean Casey Animal Rescue, which will treat it for an eye infection then look after it while waiting for Cassone to return from a well-deserved Caribbean vacation, for which she will depart next week.
