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Homeless Man's Pitbull Bites "Through" East Village Pedestrian's Arm
By
Rebecca Fishbein
Published Aug 14, 2015
Modified Aug 14, 2015
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Courtesy Benjamin Curry's flickr
By
Rebecca Fishbein
Published Aug 14, 2015
Modified Aug 14, 2015
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A pitbull belonging to homeless crusties in the East Village reportedly attacked a 42-year-old man on Second Avenue last week, less than a week after punk photographer Roberta Bayley's dog was fatally attacked by a different crusty pitbull on St. Mark's Place.
The Villager reports that EV resident Ed Vassilev was walking with his dog, Misha, on 2nd Ave between East 4th and 5th Streets at 11:30 a.m. on August 5th when a pitbull who appeared to belong to two young passed-out homeless men sprinted down the sidewalk after him. Vassilev picked up his dog, and the pitbull bit him. "He got a chunk of my arm. It was brutal. It wasn’t a nip — he bit through my arm," Vassilev told the paper.
Vassilev had to have his triceps muscle stitched together at a local hospital—the wound later became infected, and he was briefly hospitalized. He says the bite was so severe the nerves in part of his arm may be permanently severed. The dog, meanwhile, is undergoing observation at Animal Care and Control.
The August 5th incident follows the death of Sidney, a pug belonging to photographer and longtime East Village resident Bayley. Sidney was bitten by a large pit bull belonging to a young homeless man on St. Mark's Place between 2nd and 3rd Avenues on August 1st and died the next day. Members of the young homeless community in the area have since identified that pitbull's owner as a traveller named Natas, noting that the canine was "a very aggressive dog" that has since been put down.
Local crusties also told the Villager that their dogs are well-trained, cared for and well-behaved, and that Bayley's dog had been attacked by an animal that was mistreated by his previous owner. An animal trainer told the paper that while "the homeless have some of the best-behaved dogs," those dogs can become "territorial or guarding" if their owners are passed out or asleep. (We have seen that happen before, in fact.)
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Rebecca Fishbein
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