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A tiny Boston Terrier named Ginger was literally ripped right off its owner's leash yesterday and sucked into the moving parts of a Dept. of Sanitation street sweeper. Robert Machin was getting into his car parked on the side of a street in the Soundview section of the Bronx. The door of his Honda Civic was still open and Machin was in the process of moving his dogs into the car, when witnesses said that a street sweeper suddenly swerved towards the Civic, and Ginger was swept up in the vehicle's brushes.
Multiple witnesses described how the sweeper was traveling relatively fast--approximately 30-40 m.p.h.--and swerved right as it got to Machin's car to avoid a speed bump in the street. The distraught owner chased after the street cleaner for a few blocks before getting his attention, but the driver refused to even turn off the spinning machinery until he had driven back to the scene where the dog was killed.
The body of Ginger was eventually extricated from the vehicle and returned to her dismayed owner, although the driver was characterized as unapologetic and the Dept. of Sanitation said that situation was "unfortunate." Witnesses said that the driver of the street sweeper was wearing headphones during the incident. The Dept. of Sanitation said it will conduct a review of the incident.
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-- and you can't even sue, unless the animal has some kind of expensive pedigree.
Sue for what? Those thongs make so much noise and one should keep themselves and pets away from the curb/street when those cleaners come by..... this guy must have been standing right next to the cleaner for the dog to get swept up unless he had one of those annoying extending leashes.
Be awake out there - that could have been a car just as easily.
they should make the sweeper larger, and let it suck up the owners too. almost as bad as the stroller mommies.
The driver was probably wearing protective ear muffs as required by OSHA while operating noisy machinery. It does not permit him however to have such a cavalier attitude to what appeared to be a serious situation.
control your animals or suffer the consequences.
don't ever trust eyewitness accounts of how fast a vehicle was moving. if it was going so fast how did the owner catch up to it on foot? streetsweepers are huge, loud, and not very nimble.
Always put your dog in on the curb side of the vehicle.
Our city is run and maintained by utter assholes.
stupid owner
In most cities, street sweepers clean *at night* so they can avoid heavy traffic and pedestrians. Every street has a specific night where parking is prohibited, so the sweeper can clean all the way to the curb.
But in Manhattan, I see these idiots running their sweepers down the middle of the street during rush hour. WTF?
Poor, unfortunate little thing, but please don't scrap streetsweepers, please don't scrap streetsweepers, please don't scrap streetsweepers. They're about the only thing that spares me from mountains of chicken bones.
OMG, Snoopy is a voice of reason here? The world is coming to an end!
[5] But if the sweeper was going 10 mph as it's supposed to, why would it take him almost three blocks to chase it down? You don't think that maybe he caught it even though it was moving fast because of a red light? The average person can run at least 20 mph for a short distance. I may not trust witnesses 100%, but I trust armchair "experts" who off-handedly dismiss witnesses even less. How do you know they're not nimble at speed? Maybe they are and maybe they aren't, but do you have any experience driving them or is this just a wild guess based on how sluggish they look at low speeds?
I hate everything about street sweepers. They're loud and ineffective. I'm often scared of being sucked into the stupid brushes myself.
how do I know? maybe because I've lived in this city all my life. the guys a nitwit, I'm glad his mongrel got sucked up. I trust nitwitnesses less than armchair interneters.
Look after your mongrels, two and four legged ones.
While it is sad for the dog, the problem is not the street sweeper, but with an irresponsible owner. Too many dog owners are completely irresponsible, sometimes to the point of being passive/aggressive and using their dogs as weapons (ie; not to bite, just to annoy).
Why was this guy in the street with his dogs? How could he not hear the street sweeper coming? Were the dogs on those obnoxious fishing line leashes? He likely knew the street sweeper was coming but wanted to make the sweeper stop and wait for him. Instead his dog got hit. He was playing a game of chicken, that the sanitation worker had no way of knowing he was involved in, and the dog (and possibly the sanitation worker) suffered as a result. Maybe this jerk will learn.
I hope he doesn't get a dime from the city. I hope the sanitation worker counter sues.
" But if the sweeper was going 10 mph as it's supposed to, why would it take him almost three blocks to chase it down?"
Because he likely didn't start running after it immediately. If he was so upset, it would have taken him a while to start after the sweeper.
He shouldn't have been out in the street with his dog. It is sad for dogs when they have such irresponsible owners.
how do I know? maybe because I've lived in this city all my life.
Wow, all 20-odd years of it? Impressive. Not. And that makes you an expert on street sweepers. Ooookay. Only someone with the arrogance of youth thinks they know everything.
Because he likely didn't start running after it immediately. If he was so upset, it would have taken him a while to start after the sweeper.
Riiiight. It takes three blocks to catch a 10mph sweeper? Something grabs your beloved dog and you just stand there? Baloney. I could catch a sweeper in three blocks even if it had a headstart of more than a block. It would have taken him a long pause to take that long to chase down what's supposed to be a slow-moving vehicle. If someone grabs a woman's purse, does she wait 60 seconds before screaming for help?
10am, get your mongrel off the streets.
that's when the DSNY cleans the streets. should of slapped him with a ticket.
"If someone grabs a woman's purse, does she wait 60 seconds before screaming for help?"
A purse is an inanimate object. A dog is not. Would he have just started running without checking on the injured/dead dog first? If he would he shouldn't have had a dog in the first place.
Um, try reading either the Gothamist article conveniently above or any of the linked news articles before typing. The sweeper grabbed the dog and swept it into the collection bin and the owner saw it as it happened. What exactly was he supposed to stay behind and check? Was he supposed to go, "Oh, my dog's been swept up. Should I chase the sweeper or not? Let me think. Well, I suppose I should."
should of slapped him with a ticket.
Apparently a lifetime in NYC still means one has no idea that there has never been and never will be the grammatical construct "should of." What the hell is that supposed to mean and why do people keep typing that? It makes no sense whatsoever. It's obvious you've got a real bug up your butt about dogs. I'm a cat person and don't like dogs, but even I can't be as hateful as you.
what a fucker!!! probably is one of those fuckhead fathers that abuse all that is tiny jus because he can! FUCKTARD!
Well there's two sides to every street. Was he moving his car from the side that was to be swept and the sweeper showed up early, or was he on the opposite side of the street and the dog was on a long leash and was "sucked" in because it was away from the car? By "sucked" I mean brushed in by the curb brush into the main take up brush.
That sucks!
As soon as I read about this I knew the driver of the sweeper was wearing headphones, and driving like he did not care what was in his way. Any NewYorker on the street always has the right of way, and especially city workers should be the most aware of this. The driver that killed this little dog is an incompetant idiot. He has no regard for what is the most important of all: The People of NewYork. FIRE THE BUM!
What the hell is the matter with you people, acting like it's the owner's fault that this happened to his poor dog? How in god's name is it the owner's fault?? You're a bunch of sociopaths.
oh geez louise again with the should of and should have.
RUNNING SPEED of HUMANS
An average human being could never run 20 mph. The world record currently held by Tim Mongomary on a 100m dash clocked him at 23 mph.
In my best running days--when I was in fantastic shape-- I could run 6.5 mph for an hour and for very short periods of time, 9 mph. That is on a treadmill.
If those chasing the "speeding" sweeper had caught it at a stop light, they probably would have said so.
WHY STREET SWEEPING IS DONE DURING THE DAY
Street sweepers do not work at night in NYC, because, for them to do so would reduce the on street parking by 50%, because cars could not be parked at all on the side of the street that was being swept. Alternatively, those parked would have to come out in the middle of the night to move their cars for the sweeper.
MISSING FACTS
I do not believe we have all of the facts here. Street sweepers are very, very loud. Not only that but they are very dirty--spewing dust and filth as they move along.
I have parked my own car on the street and had to move it when the sweeper came along. It involves moving your car for a brief period (less than a minute) while the sweeper cleans the area where the had previously been.
On street sweeping days, cars are not permitted to park on the street for a 1 1/2 hour period (11 a.m. - 12:30 p.m in my hood) during which time the sweeper may come by. What drivers do is to sit inside their cars (illegally parked for the 1 1/2 hour period) reading and listening to the radio and, when they hear the sweeper (which is very loud), they move the car for a minute afterwich time they move back to their spot and wait out the remaining time.
MY THEORY
Most likely, the dog owner was illegally parked and waiting for the sweeper. He was not inside the car but was on the sidewalk with his dogs. When he heard the sweeper, he made a mad dash to move his car, not having time to load the dogs on the passenger street side. (A sweeper moving 10 mph can cover a block in a few minutes.) The dog owner had to hurry. In his rush, he took his eye off the dogs who were in the street and one of them was sucked up.
If his dog is anything like my dog Casey Jane, she may have run towards the sweeper barking, trying to protect the owner. The barking may not have been heard over the noise of the sweeper. The dog, being so small, was most likely out of the line of vision of the sweeper who is sitting up quite high.
Most likely, sweepers are not required or allowed to stop for cars who are illegally parked. The man himself was probably in no danger. The dog was not visible.
The dog owner will probably be fined for illegally parking. The dog may be replaced (at taxpayer expense by the city) just to make the situation go away.
What happened is unfortunate. Mistakes do happen. They happen to all of us. We do not have to name call on either the dog owner (who is grieving) or on the sweeper (who may also be grieving).
Imagine yourself as the sweeper, you just accidentally killed a dog, the owner and his friends are screaming at you--looking much like a lynch mob. You just had gone to work like you did every day.
A little empathy goes a long way.
"Most likely, sweepers are not required or allowed to stop for cars who are illegally parked." What happened to those street sweepers that had Mayor Koch's recorded voice played back over a loud speaker admonishing them for not moving out of the way? The sweepers would pause their sweeper and play that sweet sounding voice to those parked illegally.
I've also seen the "sanitation police" proceed in front of a sweeper and ticket those that were in the way. Perhaps those immigrants at the traffic department could do same instead of their normal pollution.
The sweeper should be charged with some offense. What if it had been a child?? Head phones are just as bad as a cell phone. Heartless bastard. He should be punished!!
An average human being could never run 20 mph. The world record currently held by Tim Mongomary on a 100m dash clocked him at 23 mph.
In my best running days--when I was in fantastic shape-- I could run 6.5 mph for an hour and for very short periods of time, 9 mph. That is on a treadmill.
That's awful. You call that "fantastic shape"? People run marathons -- over 26 miles -- in just over two hours. That's about 13mph, and not for a "very short period." Don't forget the 4-minute mile has been broken over and over. That's 15mph. And you don't think people can hit 20 in a short sprint? What's this about Tim Montgomery holding the current world record? He was stripped of his record for drug use years ago and it's been beaten several times anyway. Your 23mph figure is an average from a standing start. Top speed for world class sprinters is actually closer to 30mph.
Where is any simple empathy for this owner? Every post pretty much blames the victim for the horrific, science-fiction death of his dog. We don't even know the details, but still you're comfortable declaring that it's his fault his family member is dead. This is a guy whose small pet got sucked into a very powerful city-owned machine and chewed to pieces. You're happy to blame the owner of the dog - who was on a leash mind you..imagine if she hadn't been! you could have really gone to town - whose neck was snapped by a huge vehicle recklessly driven by a city employee. Empathy for the driver, sure. But not a bit for the owner. What "lynch-mob" (see comment above)? None of you can say a simple "Oh, that's terrible" ...really? Nobody?
The mocking " debate" about whether the owner REALLY ran to stop the sweeper, the declarations that the owner is to blame for the sweeper "swerving into" his car to avoid a speed bump, the defense of the sweeper guy wearing distracting, mind-numbing earphones (like the iPod zombies and cell-phone junkies and must-text-now-to-say-I-found SUCH CUTE SHOES AT MACYs" who dominate and clog and ruin life in the city) because, you know, it's really loud inside that cab and we talk on the phone while we drive OUR huge cars, too and oops, get out of the way, pedestrians, I'm dialing and driving.
Your clever irony, is...ah, shit..
These sweepers come roaring around corners every day in my neighborhood - they're not even sucking up trash, just distributing it elsewhere - speeding at 20 and 30 miles an hour so that their drivers can get back to the sweeper barn faster and sleep through their shifts. It's these seemingly drunk drivers you're willing to laugh about when they endanger your children in the crosswalks (when your children have the light) and who - according to you - are free to run over and kill leashed pets when they feel like gunning their tanks-with-brushes down the street.
Good job, New Yorkers!!