Hitchhiking Monkey Lands in Pokey

A runaway monkey that tried to hitch a ride with a stranger wound up behind bars Tuesday.

Los Angeles police said the little simian tried to get into the passenger seat of a car parked in the 1400 block of West 18th Street, but was fended off by the driver--who suffered a scratched hand, and called the Rampart Division station to complain.

Officers who responded to the call came armed with fire extinguishers, thick gloves and batons, expecting to subdue the animal, which had been described as “six feet tall and vicious.”

But on arrival, they put away their weapons and called animal control officers to pick up a two-foot spider monkey--which had evidently given up the idea of running away and returned to its cage in the front yard of a nearby house.

Nonetheless, paramedics advised the woman who had been scratched to get a tetanus shot.

And the monkey was being held at the 11th Avenue Animal Shelter while the investigation continues.