KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 13 — A technology recruiter complained after being arrested by Parks Enforcement Patrol (PEP) and placed in a lock-up for walking her dogs off-leash and not having identification on her.
Dora Marchand, who was released after paying a US$200 (RM847) fine for not complying with officers and US$100 (RM423) for having the dogs off-leash, had left her Upper West Side apartment to walk her two dogs at the Riverside Park.
The 29-year-old told West Side Rag that she was held in handcuffs for almost two hours before she was taken to the police station to confirm her identity.
Marchand said she was aware of the off-leash rules in Riverside Park but maintains she should be arrested for it.
She said she was on her way home when she was approached by a PEP officer.
“He called me over and said this isn’t allowed, you need to have dogs on the leash. I said I was sorry and that I was about to go home. I said I didn’t mean to cause any harm,” Marchand said.
The officer, she added, was about to let her go with a warning, but another officer appeared from across the field asking for her name, address and birth date.
“He wanted to write a ticket. I gave him my name and birthday but could not remember my address since we just moved.
“I offered to walk him over to the apartment I am renting to show him where I lived.
“I offered to go home and get my wallet but he said that isn’t how it works. He said I was under arrest for not giving out my address and put me in handcuffs.”
“It felt like he was a man having a power trip. There was no calming him down,” Marchand said.
More officers arrived on the scene with cages and shock sticks to try to coerce the dogs into the cages.
Finally, she used a passerby's mobile phone to contact her boyfriend, who came to pick up the dogs.
“He brought my wallet which had my ID, but the second officer said it was too late and they were just going to book me.”
Reponding to the matter, the Parks Department spokesman said their officers had attempted to issue a summons to a female patron in Riverside Park for two unleashed dogs on the football field.
"When she could not produce identification, she was taken to the local precinct where her identification was verified.
“This patron has not been compliant with officers after warnings in the past,” the spokesman claimed, which was denied by Marchand as she had just moved to the city from San Francisco a week prior to the August 4 incident.
