East 25rd Street at First Avenue in Gramercy Park was completely shut down as a large crowd gathered to watch the scene.
Police tried to come up with a strategy to get the hawk off of the minivan where it was sitting.
One officer pushed his car into the minivan and then climbed on top of the vehicle, and at that point the hawk decided to fly away, ending up on the third-floor fire escape of a building.
After the bird 'fowled' up traffic for awhile late in the afternoon, the street was later reopened.
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