WPCNR POLICE GAZETTE. October 15, 2003: City Hall reports that a male deer with a full set of antlers was first spotted about  10:15 A.M. Tuesday morning, clip-clopping at a good clip down Martine Avenue having just cleared a wooden barrier. The deer was in a panic, George Gretsas, the Mayor’s Executive Officer reported, amd sought refuge by bolting into the Creations Plus beauty salon on Martine Avenue.

TASER GUN: Photographed at a recent WPPD News Conference on the Crime Rate. White Plains Police Officers carry this crowd control device which they used to immobilize the deer cornered in Creations Plus Tuesday Morning. WPCNR News File Foto.

Officers responding used a Taser dart to stun the animal. Gretsa said it was a tough situation for the police, reporting the deer to be a medium sized animal. “Obviously, they could not shoot it,” Gretsas explained given the number of persons in the area. He said an officer used a Taser gun which shoots a dart on an electric cord to shock and temporarily immobilize. While the dear was stunned, officers “hog-tied” the deer, in preparation for relocating it to the woods, but unfortunately, Gretsas reports, the animal expired. He was to be buried in the Gedney yard.

Gretsas described the police as very sad they could not save the deer, and said that perhaps the stress of the situation proved too much for the animal.

Jim Benerofe, of suburbanstreet.com, notes that deer have wandered into White Plains before. He recalls one jumping into the window of a jewelry store about a decade ago on the first floor of the Bar Building. Five years ago a black bear wandered into White Plains, along Mamaroneck Avenue near Bryant. Then the Police were able to tranquilize the bear with a sharpshooter’s tranquilizer dart and were greatly admired and praised for saving the bear’s life.