He was a man having a power trip Dog walker arrested for walking pets off leash hits out at overzealous cops

A New York City woman who was arrested for walking her dogs off-leash says the police officers who confronted her were on “a power trip”.

Dora Marchand, 29, was handcuffed and taken into custody by Parks Enforcement Patrol Officers for walking her mini Australian shepherds Comet and Sophie in Riverside Park, on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, in an area where pets must be leashed by law.

Ms Marchand, who moved to New York from San Francisco on 28 July, said she apologised to the officers and offered to take the dogs straight home.

She told the New York Post a first officer initially offered to let her off with a warning.

But then his partner came over and said: “We’re gonna have to write you up”.

When she couldn’t produce an ID, and forgot her new address, the officer told Ms Marchand he had no option other than to place her in handcuffs and she was hauled off to an NYPD holding cell.

After her release, she hit out at the officers for wasting time booking her when “murders and theft” are skyrocketing in New York.

“It felt like he was a man having a power trip. There was no calming him down,” she told the West Side Rag, a local newspaper for the neighborhood.

A witness who filmed the 4 August incident described it as “so unnecessary”.

“It was disturbing how they treated her like a dangerous criminal pulling her around by the handcuffs,” Richard Baron Penman, who had been jogging nearby, told the West Side Rag.

Mr Baron Penman said Ms Marchand had been calm and cooperative, and said he believed the officers acted aggressively and “went overboard trying to show their authority”.

Footage he captured shows Ms Marchand in handcuffs and after being arrested by the two officers.

Recalling her ordeal, Ms Marchand, an IT professional, said officers needed to call for backup after realising her two dogs were not allowed in the 20th precinct station.

More officers showed up with cages and shock sticks to apprehend the animals.

Fortunately, she was able to borrow a cell phone from a passer-by to call her boyfriend to come and collect the dogs before the parks officers placed them in the cages.

Ms Marchand was held for an hour in an NYPD holding cell while her identity was verified.

Her shoes were removed and the string from her pants was taken, and she told the Post she overheard NYPD officers were making fun of the parks officers.

“They were kind of all laughing like, ‘This is not fascist Germany, we don’t arrest people for like not having dogs on the leash,’” she said.

Ms Marchand was fined $200 for non-compliance and $100 for walking the dogs off the leash.

In a response, a Parks Department spokesperson said: “On August 4, Parks Enforcement Officers attempted to issue a summons to a female patron in Riverside Park for two unleashed dogs on the soccer field.

“When she could not produce identification, she was taken to the local precinct where her identification was verified.”

“This patron has not been compliant with officers after warnings in the past,” the spokesperson added.

Ms Marchand denied she’d encountered police in the park before.

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