Bodega cats are the pride of NYC, keeping rats out of small delis and rewarding shoppers with balls of fluff to pet after they manage to knock the toilet paper off the top shelf. Bodega cats do not harm us, making it all the more awful to hear of one getting attacked: a man allegedly attacked and injured one such cat after stealing it from a bodega in Bedford-Stuyvesant yesterday, and the incident was caught on video.
The Daily News reports that Salah Zaid, 28, allegedly stole a bodega cat named Nancy from Seven &One Deli & Grocery on Fulton Street at around 3 p.m. on Friday. The owner of the bodega, Ahmad Hussien, told the tabloid that Zaid had come into the store earlier in the day and began asking him questions about his background. Hussien said he asked Zaid to leave, but he came back and snatched Nancy. "We were just about to feed her and she was gone," one employee told the tabloid.
Nancy managed to escape Zaid, according to the News, and ran into nearby Chinese takeout joint New People’s Restaurant. That was when Zaid wrestled with her, slammed her into a wall and counter, and threw her into the restaurant's kitchen. “He was crazy,” one employee said. “He opened the door and the cat came inside. He beat the cat, he smashed the cat, he threw the cat against the wall.”
You can see the incident on graphic video below:
The NYPD tells us that Zaid, who lives near where the cat attack took place, was arrested and charged with animal cruelty. Nancy is being treated for her injuries at an ASPCA Animal Hospital in Manhattan.
