Sunlight glinted off the gravestone sitting on a table in a Brooklyn apartment. The stone's arrival marked nearly six months since Jessica Chrustic and her beloved golden retriever Moose were attacked while walking in Prospect Park and served as a grim reminder that the dog's killer remains at large.
The case seemed open and shut. Neighbors said the suspect lived in the park and frequently reported spotting him in the days after the attack, and Chrustic herself called 911 during a second frightening encounter with him.
Chrustic and Moose were confronted one morning in August by a man she'd seen in Prospect Park many times. He often muttered to himself while carrying a garbage bag and a long, thick walking stick. Chrustic tried to get her dog as far away as possible, but she said the man took out a Gatorade bottle and started spraying liquid on her. She later realized it was urine.
While hurrying Moose up some nearby stairs, Chrustic felt the stick strike her across the lower back.
"When I turned around, Moose was then trying to protect me," she said. "I just wanted to protect my dog, and my dog was trying to protect me."
The next blow hit Moose straight across the face with a sickening crunch.
Early-morning bicyclists and walkers had stopped to help, and the suspect took off. Chrustic remembers talking to the police, then rushing Moose to the veterinarian for emergency dental surgery.
But Moose's internal wounds went undiagnosed. Five days later, he died of sepsis.
Chrustic received an outpouring of support from her neighbors both in person and on the website Nextdoor. Many had encountered the suspect in the park before, too, and some shared photos of the man in hopes they would help police make an arrest.
“We may have dropped the ball," 78th Precinct Commanding Officer Frantz Souffrant acknowledged days later during a virtual meeting attended by dozens of angry Park Slope residents, Patch reported.
At this point any adult not carrying a gun is a fool. Protect yourself, because the law won't, and protect your community as well. This kind of thing done to members of communities would bring a response. Creatures like this should be found dead three days later, not six months of "why won't the police do anything!" Whining from a society of people who take no agency in their own lives.
I don’t ever expect a human being to accept full responsibility for their fuckups, so I try to reserve my energy in that regard for praising the people who DO take responsibility rather than calling out every one of the millions who don’t.
But even given that general policy, that line really reeks, Officer.
At this point any adult not carrying a gun is a fool. Protect yourself, because the law won't, and protect your community as well. This kind of thing done to members of communities would bring a response. Creatures like this should be found dead three days later, not six months of "why won't the police do anything!" Whining from a society of people who take no agency in their own lives.
“We may have dropped the ball.”
I don’t ever expect a human being to accept full responsibility for their fuckups, so I try to reserve my energy in that regard for praising the people who DO take responsibility rather than calling out every one of the millions who don’t.
But even given that general policy, that line really reeks, Officer.