Rotund NYC rat gets stuck in Brooklyn sidewalk: ‘RIP fatso’
A rotund rodent got stuck in a Brooklyn sidewalk while scurrying out from the underground — causing a pedestrian to accidentally step on its head and shriek in horror, a witness said Wednesday.
“This rat couldn’t fit through the hole. RIP fatso,” Dylan Wells posted on Twitter, along with a photo of the ill-fated critter.
Wells was walking to work at the Mediterranean restaurant Victor in Gowanus at around 11 a.m. Wednesday when he spotted the roly-poly rat stranded on Third and Atlantic Avenues, he told The Post.
“I walked past it twice: the first time I had a debate with a woman about whether it was still alive. It obviously wasn’t,” he said.
When he returned at around 4 p.m., the beady-eyed rodent was still there.
“Second time I was behind a woman wearing flip flops, on her phone, not paying attention and she stepped on its head and screamed,” he said.
Wells said the fat rat was likely trying to come up via a crack or tunnel below the sidewalk near a construction site, when he met his maker.
“I’m assuming it was below the pavement and couldn’t get its head through the hole, then his body got stuck and he died,” he said. “Maybe he was too fat.”
He added, “I’m wondering if there are a lot of rats living under there now because he’s blocking [the hole].”
The city should get rid of the rat quickly so more folks don’t go “eek,” he said.
The sighting comes amid the Big Apple’s worst rodent infestation in more than a decade, and a roughly week after a group of residents sued the city for allegedly fueling the problem by allowing pandemic-era outdoor dining.
The city didn’t immediately return a request for comment.
