A 75-year-old Crown Heights woman was hospitalized after what neighbors say was a long-simmering fight over dog waste outside her President Street home that finally boiled over into violence. The dispute over a nearby vacant lot and a string of 311 complaints ended in an assault that was captured on surveillance cameras.
What the video shows
Surveillance footage shared with local reporters shows the woman, identified by family as Linda Scott, being struck and left on the ground as relatives rush to help her. Scott, 75, told reporters she was attacked after confronting a neighbor about the vacant lot. Police are searching for the person responsible, according to PIX11.
Dog-waste tensions are citywide
Neighbors describe the vacant lot as a magnet for trash, homeless encampments and unleashed dogs, and say Scott had repeatedly filed 311 complaints about the problem. A 311 data analysis shows dog-waste complaints have risen in recent years, per Gothamist. New York State Public Health Law §1310, the so-called "pooper-scooper" law, requires owners to remove canine waste and allows civil penalties up to $250, according to the state legislature’s text (NYS Public Health Law §1310).
Victim's account and city response
Scott told PIX11 she had been pouring ammonia in the vacant lot to keep dogs away after repeated incidents, and that she had called 311 several times about the ongoing nuisance. PIX11 reports the city issued a citation to the lot’s owner but did not instruct the owner to put up a fence, and neighbors say the unresolved lot has become a flashpoint for confrontations on the block.
What happens next
The NYPD is investigating the assault and no arrests have been announced. Family members who appear in the security video have urged anyone with footage or information to come forward. Neighbors say the attack has renewed calls for the city to secure and clean problem lots before seemingly small quality-of-life disputes escalate into violence.
