By Susan Tallant/editor-in-chief
The day started out just as any other day for the 2-year-old class at the Children’s Center on NE Campus. Then came the cow.
While Debra Molina’s pre-school class was playing outside, police officers and the Humane Society were nearby trying to corral a big black steer that had escaped from a nearby pasture.
Chasten Benedetti and Sophia Staggs were the first ones from the class to spot it.
“ A cow!” they shouted.
Molina could not believe her eyes.
“ My first thoughts were to get the children away from the fence,” she said. “I didn’t want it to get their hands.”
But, according to the vivid imaginations of the little witnesses, their hands were not hurt at all. It was their feet that took a blow from the beast.
“ The cow got my leg and stepped on my toe,” Chasten recalled.
Patrick Hannigan and Nadia Quaye had a similar experience.
“ The cow was going to eat my feet,” Patrick said.
“ It bit my leg too,” Nadia said.
Caden Renfro, Jaden Bybee and Cohen Hutto told their version without any spin.
“ He was running,” Caden said.
“ We got scared,” Jaden added.
“ And I saw a big helicopter,” Cohen said.
The steer escaped March 9 from a nearby pasture in North Richland Hills and was originally sighted around 10 a.m. on Davis Boulevard and Texas 26 before making his way on campus.
The campus visit was short-lived though; apparently, the 700-pound visitor was hungry.
After leaving TCC, the steer wandered through a McDonald’s drive-through lane (probably mistaking it for a Chick-fil-A).
No bull about it, this steer was stubborn. He kept mooving even after being shot several times with a tranquilizer gun.
The five-mile journey ended at 11:45 a.m. after the steer headed toward a creek off Bedford Euless Road.
The steer was finally herded into a fenced area in Bedford where North Richland Hills Police Sgt. Joe Slinkard ended the frenzy by roping the steer. Slinkard told the Star-Telegram the steer was merely scared.
