TRENTON — The cow that escaped onto Interstate 295 in Hamilton Friday morning - and later died - injured two people in Trenton shortly after escaping a slaughterhouse in the city's Chambersburg neighborhood.

The cow escaped while being unloaded from a vehicle at Trenton Halal Packing Co. on Roebling Avenue in Trenton, officials said, injuring a worker in the process.

A Trenton EMS ambulance was called to the business, but the employee declined medical treatment. A rescue official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the cow trampled the man's hips and legs while being unloaded from a vehicle.

The cow then fled south through Chambersburg and into the area of Lalor Street along the Trenton/Hamilton border, officials said.

On Barnt Avenue in Trenton, a man trying to avoid the charging cow tripped and fell, suffering minor injures. He was taken by ambulance to St. Francis Medical Center in Trenton for treatment, an official said. The cow also struck a vehicle in the area.

M. Suleman Malik, the owner of Halal, could not be reached for comment Friday, despite multiple calls left at his business.

It's not the first time an animal has escaped the facility.

In January 2010, an albino bull escaped and ran nearly 10 blocks before being cornered and tranquilized.

Following that incident, Malik said the slaughterhouse takes every precaution to ensure that its animals do not escape the facility, but added that mistakes sometimes occur. "It was an accident," he said. "It's going to happen."

In 2006, Malik appeared before Trenton's City Council and defended the conditions at his business after a police officer investigating a call in the area found alleged animal cruelty at Halal.

The slaughterhouse, which has been in operation since 1934, does not comply with city zoning ordinances, but has "grandfather" exception because it was operating legally on the site before zoning rules were changed.

During the pursuit for the cow Friday, Trenton animal control officers started pursuing the animal in Trenton, but lost sight of it when it entered Hamilton.

The animal officers caught up the cow in a Hamilton elementary school playground and shot it with tranquilizer darts, police said.

The brown cow eventually entered oncoming traffic on I-295. It died shortly after it was roped on the onramp to I-195 around 9 a.m., police said.

Runaway Hamilton Cow 6 Gallery: Runaway Hamilton Cow

Kevin Shea may be reached at kshea@njtimes.com. Follow him on Twitter @kevintshea. Find The Times of Trenton on Facebook.