Woman Attacked By Vicious Stray Dogs Sues City

A woman attacked by stray dogs on the Rockaway boardwalk in 2001 is suing the city, claiming they created a breeding ground for the vicious dogs by letting them feed on garbage in a city-owned vacant lot.

Marlene Fils-Aime attempted to rescue Lev Liberman when she found him being attacked by two Rottweilers, a pit bull and two mutts on December 26th, 2001. The dogs gnawed off his ears, part of his scalp, and left him legally blind. Fils-Aime's lawyer, Robert Danzi, wrote in court papers, "The dogs did not fight with each other over Ms. Fils-Aime, they worked together to attack her and shared her body among themselves." She suffered extensive arm and leg injuries.

Danzi claims that the dogs were "acting like a wolfpack," and blames city for not heeding complaints from locals about the group. Danzi writes, "City-owned vacant land adjacent to the boardwalk—over-grown refuse-strewn lots, unsecured garbage dumps, and other conditions which, by providing food, shelter, freedom and an ability to roam unrestrained over many square blocks constituted the perfect crucible for the development of socially efficient packs of marauding dogs." The city allegedly responded to complaints by returning the dogs to their owner—a local homeless man.

Liberman won $3 million in a 2007 settlement, but must be cared for by an around-the-clock aide because of his injuries (distressing photograph of Lieberman's injuries here). His daughter says Fils-Aime deserves at least as much. "She saved my father's life. When the ambulance came, she even said take this man first, then me," she said. "This is the city's fault. No one could believe this could happen in NY. How could wild dogs attack people in NY?"

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jaya Saxena in News on June 23, 2010 3:55 PM

Comments [rss]

Guest

am i the only one who actually knows what handsomedevil is doing here?

sorry, bigmouth strikes again. i will say no more.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpTKum8mIvk

handsomedevil

whatever I am just posting what i feel because I care about animals just like morissey does

Heifer whines could be human cries

Closer comes the screaming knife

This beautiful creature must die

This beautiful creature must die

A death for no reason

And death for no reason is MURDER

he is a smart and moral human unlike most gothamist commentaters

Guest

o_O

potsmoker

oh man this will rile some people up.

cops shoot tame restrained chained and lasso'd dog.

http://carlosmiller.com/2010/06/19/cops-in-missouri-record-themselves-killing-dog-once-again

watch him petting the so called vicious dog here also.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbQQUuvR3RM&feature=related

FelixtheCat & Christine Quinn'

yes, I seen that video and those cops need to be fired. if it was for that video then the cop would have stated the dog was aggressive. Poor dog was still wagging his tail when he shot him.

for those that think this is ok than read this link. the detroit police killed a 7 year old girl just a week after is shot a dog. So those who killed animals can easily kill your children. They have no respect for life.

http://blogs.kansascity.com/crime_scene/2010/05/detroit-girl-7-killed-during-raid.html

valeriob

Hey guys, am I late to the party?

youngpro

nope, just beginning, but let me fill you in anyway:

-felix hates bloomberg, quinn, and dan halloran

-handsome devil still posts comments that he knows will cause a riot

-i'm a bad lady for calling out felix for his flipflopping when bitching about his negative comments toward the nypd; except he praised them for rescuing a dog out of the river at LGA yesterday

-furthermore, i'm a bad lady for using a pigskin football in stuytown yesterday (even if only tough football!) and even worse for using a miniature schnauzer when the pigskin was damaged after landing in the fountain

-at about 3:17 EDT felix soiled himself

valeriob

Loving the aerodynamics on that miniature schnauzer. Excellent choice for a replacement.

Everything else sounds typical.

Carry on then.

ridgeside

Thank you for proving my point. Another one of your propagandist, check their site the most prominent thing you will see is how to donate,preying on weak hearted and gullible people. All you want to study is these "doctored" and "edited" videos, you still talk about puss cell (which doesn't exist in milk) it is a clever mix up of words by the great schemer named rob cohan. He switched it for somatic cell( which works the same as white blood cells in humans)they switch all kinds of terms , to jerk a tear from some dumb sap (like felix) to empty their wallets. I'm still not sure if you are the brainedwashed or the brainwasher, but you have a lot to learn, try crawling out of your bubble.

ridgeside

Nu yorker, I don't think that will happen to felix, cause in order for that to happen he would need to step out of his bubble that he put himself in. He just sits in there stoking his cats and typing a lot of shit, just like his "puppet masters" tell him to do. He doesn't know anything about animals,the only place he gets information is from propagandist like peta. Just another fund raiser.

FelixtheCat & Christine Quinn'

http://www.mercyforanimals.org/ohdairy/

propaganda? He is a disturbing vidoe of Ohio Dairy farm brutality. NOt only is dairy farms cruel but also MILK is the unhealthiest drink. IT makes you FAT, MUCUS, and DEPLETES your calcium. It is abnormal to drink milk from another species and to drink milk past your weaning.

nu yorker

felix would probably let dogs maul him and die for our sins all jesus-like...

kazubes

Too damn funny, a woman is attacked and mauled by viscious dogs and Felix's main issue is the picture of the dog

FelixtheCat & Christine Quinn'

ugh maybe because there is nothing on this story that disparages the woman so why should I have a problem with her? The issues is that this picture is biased and feeds the trolls like dadoc and deadhimmmler, who uses any excuse to spew their hatred for animals. that is the issue.

youngpro

um, felix, this is gothamist. there's a cynical picture for almost EVERY story. so it's ok to upload pictures and videos of cops doing bad things and you jizz over it but Cujo makes you cry.

handsomedevil

shame on gothamist shame on jaya the story should make it clear that it is not the dogs fault it is the fault of the assholes who bought them from breeders and then threw them away

youngpro

shame on you for being ignorant of telling how a reporter should do their job

handsomedevil

shame on you for being ignorant of knowing whats right for animals

youngpro

shame on you for not recognizing humans are a superior specie to dogs.

handsomedevil

having the capasity to reason intails more responsibility you cant just sit back and blame animals people may be smarter but they are morally weak