Police have fielded a Cheese Spring Road man’s complaint that his neighbor across the street deliberately and repeatedly walked a dog to defecate on his lawn during the holidays.
In the latest installment of a dispute that appears to go back many years, the 63-year-old complainant told the head of the New Canaan Police Department’s Animal Control section that on Dec. 24 he had been backing down the driveway with a son-in-law in the car when he spotted his neighbor with a squatting Siberian husky, according to a case report obtained by NewCanaanite.com following a Freedom of Information request.
The son-in-law “directed me to the spot where the dog did its business,” according to a sworn statement.
“I went to it and took a picture of the turd left by the dog. On his return to his driveway, [the neighbor] told me ‘[Expletive] you’ and to ‘Get some DNA.’ On Dec. 25 at approximately 10:54 a.m. [the neighbor] came out of his driveway and let his dog do its business on my side of the street again. I recorded the incident from my son’s upstairs bedroom on my iPhone.”
The accused man, 82, denied any wrongdoing, saying that the complainant menaced him and dog by driving up alongside and yelling at them while they walked.
Ultimately, Animal Control urged the accused man to avoid the complainant’s property.
A review of tax records shows that they’ve been neighbors for about 30 years, as the man with the dog purchased his home in 1979, the complainant in 1988.
In his own sworn statement, the accused man told police that the pair had “a boisterous kerfuffle about 8 years ago” which led his neighbor to contact police.
“The result: The police officer said emphatically to both of us in separate meetings that under no circumstances should we contact or confront each other in any way,” the accused man said.
His version of recent events differs from the complaining neighbor’s.
According to the accused man, the black-and-white husky belongs to his son and he was looking after it through the holidays. The pair exchanged words during the first incident and the following day, “I walked the dog across Cheese Spring,” he said in a sworn statement.
“She urinated but did not defecate. It was at this time that [the complainant] appeared behind his rock wall with a camera.”
The 63-year-old included photographs as well as video with his complaint, according to Animal Control.
A police report said that the accused man—when told about the town’s ordinance on picking up after a dog (it’s in the Town Code here and failure to do so carries a $90 fine)—replied that many people who walk their dogs along the street leave the mess alone.
Asked why he doesn’t walk south toward Mariomi and Valley Roads instead of the other direction, the accused man said in his sworn statement that he has safety concerns “because it is difficult for drivers coming around the dip and bend in the road to see pedestrians, particularly at night and from an often speeding vehicle.”
“I didn’t go into the details of the safety situation, but for the record it’s definitely a long-term problem. During our 40-plus years here our mailbox has been replaced many times. In fact, during the past year I had to replace the mailbox post. Plus my rock wall was hit by a truck or car last winter obliterating it while spewing large rocks on Cheese Spring Road. This is a matter of record via meetings with the highway department and the New Canaan Police Department. A police report was field regarding the incident. Furthermore when I mow my lawn along Cheese Spring I first mow about 10 yards off the road going toward Valley Road and then against traffic to see when cars are coming. Cheese Spring Road is a speedway. The town should be concerned.”
The son-in-law also filed a sworn statement, part of which included this section: “To me it was obvious that the neighbor intentionally led his dog to [my father-in-law’s] property to do its business. After the dog finished the neighbor continued up the road. [My father-in-law] turned right out of his driveway. He pulled up next to the neighbor. [My father-in-law] rolled the window, Frank told the neighbor that he (the neighbor) has been told about not having his dog crap on [my father-in-law’s] yard. [My father-in-law] also said that he was going to report the neighbor to have him stop bringing his dog to [my father-in-law’s] yard to crap. The neighbor exchanged words (rudely) with [my father-in-law]. The man turned back toward his house, and [my father-in-law] turned the car around to go back in the other direction. And the man turned to go back up the road. At this point the neighbor was walking back to his house where he passed [my father-in-law] in the car. [My father-in-law] again mentioned that he was going to report him, and words were exchanged. This time the neighbor called [my father-in-law] an [expletive] twice and said ‘[expletive] you’ as he walked away.”
Ultimately, Animal Control said no further action is required at this time, according to an incident report.