A madman remains at large two months after he assaulted a woman and fatally injured her dog in Prospect Park, and the grief-stricken owner is ‘disheartened’ by the reawakened debate the tragedy has sparked in the ultra-liberal neighborhood.
The death of Jessica Chrustic’s golden retriever, Moose, in August has upset progressive Park Slope over the politically correct response to the arrest of a seemingly unhinged homeless man.
A Guardian Angels-style group called the Park Slope Panthers formed to patrol the neighborhood, then disbanded less than a month after being attacked for not being awakened.
“It’s not political for me. Period,” Chrustic said. “My position is that it should be removed from the park. It’s just a public safety measure.
A change.org petition signed by nearly 1,500 people implores Mayor Eric Adams to apprehend the demon and challenges the ‘disinterest’ of the NYPD and local councilwoman Shahana Hanif for ‘expressing her utmost concern for the well-being of the aggressor and not the victims of the man.
“If she wants to talk about prison reform, I think that’s very important but that’s not my concern right now,” Chrustic, 40, said. “That’s a question in its own right that shouldn’t be confused.”
Chrustic said the response from law enforcement left her perplexed and that the arrest of the attacker should have been a “slam dunk”.
On September 22, a woman who believed she saw the tramp outside the park sent Chrustic a photo and Chrustic confirmed that it was the man who attacked her on August 3, throwing urine on her then hitting Moose with a stick. The dog died a week later after surgery for an intestinal injury.
The witness called 911 and kept an eye on the man while waiting for the police.
“I followed him up and down. He was stopping at park benches. I was keeping a distance,” said Marnie, 53, who declined to give her last name.
She said the man walked into the park and an NYPD sergeant asked her over the phone to take a picture of him.
“I’m not going to go follow a violent man into the park after dark,” she said.
Marnie said the cops didn’t show up until about 90 minutes later, after she had already gone home.
“I was just extremely baffled why nothing was done,” Chrustic said.
A week later, on September 29, Martha Walker, 68, a retired artist, said she believed she spotted the vagrant around 5 a.m. outside the park and immediately informed Department officers. parks that were parked nearby.
She said they did nothing, even falsely telling her that Chrustic didn’t want to press charges.
Chrustic said he heard other people say the police were saying they weren’t cooperating or that they dropped the charges.
“I did everything I could to help weed out police calls for fake calls,” she said. The cops have scheduled a park tour with her for next week.
Meanwhile, Kristian Nammack, who formed the Park Slope Panthers, said he gave up after the first meeting when he was harassed by activists who told him “We’re not very interested in the fact that you’re having your meeting or doing whatever it is in the park.”
“There is no more group. I did a trial balloon and we saw what happened. A total f–k cluster. Unfortunately, the polarized state of the union makes any kind of collaborative work difficult,” Nammack said.
The NYPD said it “continually took investigative steps to bring the individual responsible to justice. The NYPD conducted park investigations with witnesses, released footage of the suspect, and increased patrols in the area. .
The Parks Department said it had no record of Walker’s meeting with its agents.