Raccoon Falls Through Ceiling, Police Pepper Spray It

A couple in Queens, New York got the scare of their lives when a raccoon fell through the ceiling. When police arrived, they had to pepper spray the animal to subdue it.

Patricia Gilbert, 48, and her husband Lavanda Gilbert, 53 got the unwelcome and frightful visit around 6 am Friday morning, when the critter fell through a hole in their bedroom ceiling.

“I heard ‘boom’ and he came crashing down,” said Gilbert. “Another foot over and he would have landed right on top of us.”

Gilbert added they were surprised by the animal’s size, “He was big, he was big like a 2-year-old kid,” she said.

The couple estimates the raccoon weighed between 15 to 20 pounds.

The shocked woman says she yelled at her husband to “get it” before promptly letting the animal out into the living room. She admits to fleeing the scene.

“I abandoned ship, I’m not gonna lie,” Patricia said after the raccoon fell through the ceiling.

At that point the mother of three yelled at her children to stay in their rooms, while her and her husband shut the bedroom door and dialed 911.

Patricia Gilbert says the uninvited guest is one of seven raccoon living in their roof. She adds she heard them thumping every morning.

In the meantime the animal was making a mess in the Gilberts living room in which she tipped over pots and tried to get the family’s turtles.

While attempting to catch the raccoon, which tried to crawl outside through the window, police arrived. They opened the window so the critter could escape.

Poor little thing must have been so scared that it took a wrong turn and that is what police were waiting for.

“They pepper-sprayed him,” Gilbert said. The raccoon didn’t know what hit him and ran to hide under a nearby car, according to the woman.

Neighbors say the house is rented and it has never been kept well, the raccoon that fell through the ceiling at the Gilberts is part of a larger group that set up shop in their roof. The landlord did not acknowledge requests for comments.