Woman Says Pigeon Stalked, Attacked Her In New Rochelle Parking Garage
NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- The notion of birds on the attack may conjure images of a classic Alfred Hitchcock thriller movie for many.
But for one Westchester County woman, it was all too real.
As CBS2's Dick Brennan reported, a persistent pigeon was determined to run Diane Daniels off from a popular entertainment complex.
Daniels, whose ordeal was captured on a surveillance video released by the New Rochelle Talk of the Sound blog, said it came out of nowhere – an out-of-control pigeon on the prowl.
"An angry pigeon -- very angry," Daniels said. "It was attacking me. It really wanted to get at me. If it could get at me, it looked like it wanted to tear me apart."
Daniels said the bird chased her relentlessly through the parking garage at New Roc City in New Rochelle – even following her down an escalator.
"I hit it once with my bag. It goes down to the floor. Now I'm talking to it: 'Please, pigeon. Come on,'" Daniels said.
Daniels said she tried to scare the bird off – unsuccessfully.
"It wanted me bad. The more I hit it, the more it came after me," she said. "I was having a faceoff with the pigeon. I was telling it to please go away, go away."
But the bird did the opposite, charging her again.
Typically, pigeons are aggressive when they are trying to protect a nearby nest.
Back at the scene, shoppers were torn – getting both a chill and a chuckle from the video.
The clip also shows the pigeon going after another person in the same garage.
"I would probably just like wave it and then keep walking; don't let that little pigeon stand in my way of getting to where I need to go," said Janenny Cervantes of Pelham Parkway in the Bronx.
Daniels said there is nothing funny about what happened at all, and the close encounter still haunts her.
"I'll never go there again," she said.
Daniels said she screamed several times, but no one helped her. She wants to know why security guards were not at the parking garage.
CBS2 left a message at the management office, but no one has responded.