Cops: Destructive primate captured after knocking out windshield of police car

KANSAS CITY, Missouri - Police say they have captured a 300-plus pound primate that escaped from its owner late Tuesday morning.

Click the Attached Video Player for Raw Footage of the Primate Walking a Kansas City Neighborhood and Smashing a Police Car Windshield -- Warning: Video Contains Explicit Language

Kansas City Police Chief James Corwin wrote on his blog police were called about 11:59 a.m. to the area of 77th and Indiana, where they spotted the primate, which he calls a monkey, wandering around the neighborhood.

Neighbors tell NBC Action News reporter Cynthia Newsome the primate is a chimpanzee named Sue.

 Two girls reported seeing it emerge from a nearby wooded area. A rope was tied to the animal.

“The primate was capable of opening doors, and it broke out the windshield of a police car,” Corwin said.

Witnesses say the chimp tried to open the front door of a house after banging on window shutters. It then jumped on at least one nearby car.

Police shot the primate with a dart gun, but Corwin said that was ineffective in subduing it.

It climbed a tree and a second attempt to shoot it with a tranquilizer missed its target, the chief said.

The primate’s owner arrived on the scene with a pickup truck and a cage in the back. The animal eventually climbed into the cage on its own and “is now in custody,” Corwin said.

"Police were ready with patrol rifles in case the animal became a danger to people," he said.

Neighbors say this is not the first time they have seen the animal in the area but that it has previously always been controlled and not running loose.