Yesterday, a 65 year old Staten Island woman slashed her neighbor's throat, claiming the neighbor had stabbed her cat in the eye. The irate Stephanie Lindboe refused to drop her 12-inch knife, even lunging at a police officer, so the cop shot and killed her. Her victim, 59 year old Linda Padula, is at Staten Island University Hospital in critical condition with various stab wounds. During the attack, another neighbor tried to intervene and help Padula, but then Lindboe tried to stab him as well; the NY Times has a more detailed description of the attack and shooting, which the NYPD says seems to be within department guidelines, and AM New York references the 1984 shooting of a 66 year old woman brandishing a butcher's knife when police tried to evict her. Neighbors say Lindboe's behavior was erratic, and it's unclear how Lindboe's cat, Dickey, ended up stabbed in the eye (did she stab him herself?). Dickey had infuriated Padula, with the super saying, "The cat had a bad habit of coming in and pissing on the rug [in the hallway]."
A vet will be removing Dickey's eye today, and adds, "He's on painkillers, fluids and antibiotics. But what he's really going to need is a home," - Animal Care and Control will put him up for adoption if Lindboe's family doesn't want him. As Gothamist knows from first-hand experience, cats are very resilient and can even deal with being one-eyed very well. But our cat lost an eye because it might have been cancerous. And here's a strange fact: Neighbors say that Lindboe raised rats to feed Dickey.
Photograph of Dickey from the Daily News
