Black bear caught on camera running through White Plains

A black bear was caught on video romping through the streets of White Plains in Westchester County early Tuesday.

A local TV crew first spotted the bear as it was strolling through parked cars in a parking garage near the City Center. The creature continued on its way, slowly galloping along local streets, including North Broadway, Main Street and Westchester Avenue.

“It was the craziest thing,” said News 12 reporter Lisa LaRocca, who was with a cameraman when they came upon the bear around 5 a.m. “Imagine you’re walking down the sidewalk on Main Street, and right on the other side of the hedges you see a black bear.”

LaRocca said she and the cameraman called 911 “as the bear scampered through the streets … [including] along busy Westchester Avenue … galloping right past the front door of apartment buildings and jumping over hedges.”

The bear is believed to be the same one spotted recently in the county, including at a cemetery in Rye Brook and a golf course in White Plains, as well as places in Scarsdale, Hastings and Greenburgh.

The bear eventually disappeared into some woods near Pace University.

Police plan to bring in animal experts “to safely trap it and then release it where it should be,” LaRocca said.