An Uptown Kingston coffee shop got some unexpected and unwelcome business when a young deer plowed through a glass door and proceeded to trash a storeroom before it was collared and hauled off by police and city Department of Public Works staff.
The bizarre incident unfolded this Tuesday morning just after 7 a.m. at Hudson Coffee Traders at 288 Wall Street. Security camera footage shows the small female deer bolting up Wall Street before abruptly changing course and crashing through the glass door. Shop owner Donna Brooks said the terrified animal raced to a storeroom in the back where it proceeded to knock over shelves and scatter merchandise.
When police arrived, Brooks said, officers initially planned to shoot the animal. She objected. “I was like, no, you are not going to shoot a deer in my shop,” said Brooks.
Instead, cops called for backup and used a snare to trap the struggling doe. Officers then placed a moving blanket over the animal to keep it calm. With assistance from Kingston DPW, it was loaded onto the back of a city pickup truck.
The deer was then taken to a wooded area near the Kingston Plaza ball field and released. Police say the only visible injury sustained by the animal was a small laceration on its snout.
By noon the shop, which gets much of its business from the courthouse across the street, had reopened to a steady stream of attorneys claiming to represent the deer.