Kid Delivers Smackdown to Crazed Coyote

via New York Post

We all wonder, now and again: When faced with a crisis, how would we act? Would we do the brave, dangerous thing, regardless of our own safety, or would we scream like a little girl and flee? In the case of Eric Mandel, a 14-year-old Westchester boy, the brave thing involved giving a marauding coyote interloper not one, not two, but three slaps to the face. But it's not like he enjoyed it.

Via the New York Post,

"It lunged at me twice, and I slapped its face away" each time, Eric said. He smacked the coyote a third time "so it would go away."

"I heard a squeal when I slapped it the third time," he said.

Suburban parents are now faced with a dilemma. After years of being taught not to hit, will their little tykes be defenseless in the face of crazed coyotes? Do Westchester schools need to initiate some form of Coyote Krav Maga? Or should we simply rely on evolution to separate the slappers from the slappees?

Police in Rye Brook think the coyote was also responsible for an attack on a 2-year-old girl and her dad -- biting the father in the butt, which is what generally tends to happen after you get your face slapped. Not that we're blaming Mandel, who demonstrated way more bravery than we would have in the situation.

Cops eventually shot the animal, squelching any uprising, for now. But apparently the area has been filthy with "ugly coyote encounters this summer," with 150 sightings.

Citizens, remain on the alert and ready to backhand on a moment's notice.

[via NYP, Daily News]