WESTFIELD – An apparently volatile resident of the Hampton Ponds area allegedly chose to punctuate a complaint against a neighbor by pushing dog feces into his face.
City police report that Officer Luis Morales responded to a Cottage Avenue complaint last week after a resident called to complain that a neighbor had assaulted him by pushing feces in his face.
Morales reports that the victim said that a neighbor came to his door shortly before noon complaining that the victim’s dogs had soiled his yard. The victim said that the man was carrying the frozen evidence of the alleged desecration in a plastic bag and a fight developed when the man attempted to shove the frozen feces into his face.
Morales reports the victim said that he told his neighbor that his dogs had not been loose since a previous complaint and thus had not been responsible for soiling the man’s property.
Police records reveal that, on Jan. 8, Kenneth Frazer, the director of the city’s animal control operations, responded to a complaint of dogs running loose and he spoke with their owner, the resident in question.
Frazer reports he issued warning citations to the owner for failure to leash and failure to license two dogs.
He also said that, while he was speaking with the resident, the suspect in the current case came to the residence and said that if he (Frazer) didn’t do his job he would punch out the dog owner and proceeded to yell at him and the resident.
Frazer reports that he advised the suspect not to take the law into his own hands and also told the resident of the threat his neighbor had made to punch him.
Morales reports his investigation into the assault investigation revealed that the victim’s across-the-street neighbor observed the altercation.
Officer Charles Kielbasa, who assisted with the investigation, said that the witness said that his attention was drawn when he heard a vehicle skid to a stop outside his house and he saw the suspect, who he recognized, pounding on the victim’s door with both hands.
The witness said that he saw the suspect push a plastic bag into the victim’s face and said he called police when a fight ensued.
However, since Cottage Avenue is the boundary between Westfield and Southampton and the witness lives on the Southampton side, his 911 call was routed to Southampton police who responded but yielded jurisdiction to the city police when Morales arrived shortly after the Southampton cruiser.
Morales reports that the suspect came to the station later, of his own accord, said he was sorry for his actions, and said that he wanted to apologize to the victim.
Morales told the suspect that the victim had said that he wanted to pursue criminal charges.
Morales advised the suspect that a criminal complaint would be filed and he could expect to receive a summons to answer the complaint in Westfield District Court.
