The NYPD’s Quality of Life Team apprehended an alleged dog abuser in Queens on Sunday, one day after a Good Samaritan stopped him from tying up a pooch with duct tape and attempting to dump it in a park, police reported.
amNewYork spoke with a 30-year-old woman, who asked to remain anonymous, after she came upon the bizarre and horrific incident inside of Gwen Ifill Park in Springfield Gardens on the night of Aug. 23.
The eyewitness said she was driving in a dense and overgrown part of the greenspace near 128-12 174th Place at around 6 p.m. when she spotted the suspect using duct tape to bind a pitbull’s mouth and legs.
“The dog stayed still, didn’t put up a fight, didn’t do anything,” the eyewitness said.
She added that the perpetrator was with a female companion with another dog who handed him the tape. The witness said she then decided to confront them when the fiend brandished a knife.
“I told him, I was like: ‘you can’t do that and what the f*ck are you doing?’ There was a lot of exchange that happened in that one minute. He pulled out a knife, and that’s when I was like, ‘Well, the cops are right nearby. So, what are you gonna do? They’re right around the corner,’” the good Samaritan recalled. “He started cutting the tape off, and I don’t know what he said under his breath.“
The pair fled the area with the dogs. According to police sources, cops caught up to a knife-wielding dog dumper on Sunday near Bedell Street and 134th Road, steps from the Locust Manor LIRR station, at around 5:45 p.m. on Aug. 24 and also recovered the dogs after his van broke down.
Officers from the NYPD’s Quality of Life team responded and found that the vehicle was unregistered and had no license plates. Inside found five Pitbulls — male and 4 female dogs — appeared malnourished.
Police arrested 38-year-old Kristopher Fyffe of Brooklyn at the scene. He was charged with aggravated cruelty to animals, illegal possession of a vehicle identification number, four counts of torture/injure/not feed animal, disorderly conduct, and operating a motor vehicle without proper registration. The female scene with him has yet to be cuffed.
Meanwhile, the dogs were transferred to the ASPCA.
The Good Samaritan told amNewYork that she believes that the area of Gwen Ifill Park, where Fyffe allegedly tried to dump the dogs, needs to be better maintained in order to stop acts of animal cruelty.
“If you see that park, it’s a mess, there are dumped cars, there’s dumped garbage. You don’t even know if you open a garbage bag and what’s going to be in there,” she said.
