Tales of reptiles in the sewers have long been part of New York City lore, though they have been largely discounted as urban legend.

But here is the true story of a two-foot-long creature that Joyce Hackett came across in Queens on Sunday afternoon. She was on her way to a store that sells salvaged building materials when she missed her turn for Astoria Boulevard. So she turned around. She pulled up to the intersection of Newtown Avenue and 29th Street when she noticed a police officer and a small crowd of people clustered around a blue car.

She parked her car and got out to see what all the fuss was about. People were pointing under the car and taking pictures. That is when she saw it.

“It was about two feet long,” Ms. Hackett, a novelist, said. “It was like the urban legend washes up from the sewer and says, ‘What the heck am I doing here?’ and hides under a Datsun.”