The bemused bovine and camera-wielding humans stared at each other through a chain-link fence for several minutes, according to live news video.
At other times the beast wandered curiously around the 526-acre (212-acre) Prospect Park, the largest in the borough of Brooklyn, and the artificial turf field normally used for human sporting events.
Officers used soccer goals to fence the animal in on a baseball diamond, but the cow barreled through one of the nets, knocking down a police officer.
Police eventually trapped the cow between two vehicles parked on either side of baseball field's bench area after an officer appeared to fire a tranquilizer dart at it.
Officers then seemed content to let the cow roam between cars, waiting for the drug to take effect before they were able to rope the beast and load it into an NYPD horse trailer.
It was not clear where the beast came from or how it got lost. Police said they would turn it over to the animal control department after they caught it.
The chase drew torrents of posts on social media, many featuring groan-inducing puns.
The New York City Parks Department also got in on the act, tweeting: "Hey, has anyone seen a cow?" When another user responded that the animal was, in fact, a bull, the department replied, "Excuse our calf...er, gaffe."
Reuters