A 57-year-old woman was arrested after allegedly assaulting a dog owner following a verbal altercation at the Steveston off-leash park.
Richmond RCMP was called to the Steveston Park area on Sunday evening at 6:45 p.m., after receiving reports of an assault in progress.
The alleged assailant had left the scene by the time officers arrived, but was tracked down shortly afterwards after a witness was understood to have taken a photo of her licence plate.
The woman who claims to be the victim contacted the Richmond News to tell how she and her 18-month-old Cavapoo, called Murphy, were in the small dog off-leash area when a much bigger dog managed to scale the fence from the large dog pen.
The small dog owner, who asked not to be named, said the large dog had little Murphy pinned down, prompting her to ask the larger dog’s owner to take her dog out of the small dog area.
Large dog had small dog "pinned down"
“She though it was funny and kept talking to her dog,” said the alleged victim, who goes to the park frequently with her dog.
“I told her my dog was scared and asked her to come get her dog out of the small dog area. She kept laughing and saying they are just playing.
“But my dog yelped and I begged her to come get her dog. I finally grabbed it by the collar…She walked in and I let the dog go, but it ran after my dog again.”
She said the larger dog’s owner asked her “if I needed medication and questioned if I owned a dog before as this is how dogs behave. She claimed I was over-reacting.
“I told her I don’t care and that her dog’s behaviour wasn’t acceptable and that the dog park is divided into two for a reason.”
More words were exchanged between the two, before Murphy’s owner decided to leave and started recording the remainder of the verbal altercation on her phone.
Alleged assailant "tried to bite" victim
However, after she had crossed the street, she noticed the woman jumping into her car and then allegedly speeding towards her.
“She drove towards me, grazing a lamppost in the process,” said Murphy’s owner.
“She grabbed my phone and threw it and then she charged at me and I’m on the ground, on my back and she’s on top of me.
“Then she tried to bite me. That’s the image I can’t get out of my head. I saw her mouth open coming at my shoulder.
“I had my knee up trying to keep her away. I grabbed her hair to stop her biting me. I held on for dear life as she kept coming at me.”
She thinks the woman noticed people were watching and got up, before driving off.
In hospital until the next day
The alleged victim then went to hospital to get checked out, where she remained until after midnight, getting x-rays.
“I still can’t go to work yet, I’m sore all over. I have bruises all over both arms and shoulders, scratches on my nose and hands and have neck pain,” said the woman, who added that she’s never been in a physical altercation in her life.
“I just want people to be very careful down there. It was black/grey, short-haired large dog.”
A spokesperson for Richmond RCMP said that the suspect was located, arrested and released on an undertaking agreement.
“She is expected to comply with a condition of ‘no-go’ to the dog park near where the incident occurred, and to attend court on July 5th, 2023,” added the spokesperson.
“As charges have not yet been forwarded to the provincial prosecution services, no names are being released at this time.”
