A good Samaritan and police rescued a French bulldog that fell down a steep hill near the George Washington Bridge in New Jersey, his overjoyed owner told the Daily News Tuesday.
Sergey Koltenuck, 53, of Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, said his 2-year-old pup Klipse was beyond lucky.
“The way police reacted, I was truly shocked. I only saw this in the movies. When you watch the movies, you think this happens in Hollywood, it’s not possible in real life. But what I saw today…” Koltenuk, who watched Port Authority ESU officers rescue the pooch, said of the effort.
Courtesy Sergey Koltentuk
French bulldog Klipse was rescued by Port Authority Police near the George Washington Bridge on Tuesday. (Courtesy Sergey Koltentuk)
Koltenuk said he left Klipse with his brother Roman in Fort Lee Monday afternoon ahead of a trip to visit family and friends in his former hometown of St. Petersburg, Russia. He never made it on the plane.
Koltenuk’s brother was walking Klipse on Tuesday morning when the Frenchie slipped out of his collar and bolted around 5:45 a.m., running in the middle of the road as cars swerved around him, the owner recounted.
“First of all, it’s a miracle he didn’t get killed by the cars. Then this woman saw him running, and she followed him. She wanted to get him. When she went to get him, he slowed down but he saw cyclists, got scared, and jumped to the side,” Koltenuk said.
The good Samaritan called police about 6:50 a.m., reporting that she couldn’t see the pup in the wooded decline where he’d fallen, but could hear him whimpering.
“He was hanging on the bushes on a little tree on the cliff, and below him was the Hudson River,” Koltenuk said. “There is no ditch. If you go down, you go down, you drown. That’s it. He managed somehow to grab the bush maybe seven to 10 feet below the highway.”
Port Authority police officers, who had been in contact with Koltenuk’s sister-in-law, along with NYPD and NJ officers, raced to the scene in Palisades Interstate Park to save the dangling pup.
“Nobody could go down. It was dangerous,” Koltenuk said. “He was probably there for over two hours. Just hanging there. If he would make one wrong move he would just go down.”
Because of the difficult angle of the terrain, Port Authority ESU officers Stephen Nicola and Rob Kuchie rappelled down the steep slope to get to Klipse, Koltenuk said. The pair grabbed him just before 9 a.m.
PAPD
A PAPD ESU officer rescues Klipse in a wooded area near the George Washington Bridge on Tuesday. (PAPD)
Koltenuk recalled the kindness of the officers, who even came equipped with dog treats.
“He’s doing wonderful. He’s laying next to me right now,” Koltenuk told the News. “He doesn’t even have one scratch. Nothing. Absolutely nothing.”
Koltenuk, who said he felt like “his life was over” when he heard Klipse had bolted, couldn’t express how grateful he was to everyone who helped in the rescue.
“People should know how wonderful communities are and how wonderful our police department is, and just regular people,” he told the News. “There are so many good people around. It’s not just in the movies. Just because of somebody who cared, saw a dog running, that’s why we’re talking right now. Otherwise, I would never know where he was, or where he died.”
“I’m so happy,” he said.
