Font Size

New York Local News

Featured Slideshows

Celebrities Separated At Birth?

E-mail

Close Window E-mail This Page

Leash At Issue In Street Sweeper Dog Killing

Required fields are marked with an asterisk(*)

Recipient E-mail:*
- Your Name:*
- Your E-mail:*
Add a Message:
Send me a copy of this e-mail.

Type the characters in this picture:*

Click here to refresh with new letters

The information you provide will be used only to send the requested e-mail and will not be used to send any other e-mail communications. Read more in our Privacy Policy

Send E-mail

Print Share +

Jun 17, 2008 11:47 pm US/Eastern

Leash At Issue In Street Sweeper Dog Killing

Sanitation Department Says Driver Will Not Be Disciplined; Witness Tells CBS 2 HD That 'Ginger' Was Wearing Leash

Reporting
John Slattery

NEW YORK (CBS) ―

Click to enlarge 1 of 1: "Ginger," a Boston terrier, was killed on June 12 after a New York City street sweeper sucked the animal up. The dog's owner and witnesses are beside themselves with grief.
CBS

Close

numSlides of totalImages

The sanitation worker whose street sweeper scooped up and killed a small dog will not be disciplined for the mishap. The sanitation union still wonders whether the dog was actually on a leash.

But as CBS 2 HD found out, the dog's owner is still not over the heartache.

Robert Machin still has one Boston terrier, but is mourning the loss of the other.

"I miss her so much. I can't believe how much I miss this dog," Machin said.

His 6-year-old female named Ginger was killed Thursday in a freak accident in the Soundview section of the Bronx.

Machin says he was about to put his two dogs in his car when a mechanical broom came along very close, and pulled the smaller dog into the machine.

"I saw my little dog Ginger being swept into the machine. Gone. The leash snapped," Machin said.

Machin says it was actually the collar that broke, and the driver, unaware of what happened, kept going. The head of the sanitation workers' union isn't convinced the dog was on a leash.

"I honestly believe that the broom, the dog was loose at the time," said Harry Nespoli of the Uniformed Sanitationmen's Association.

Machin disagrees.

"My dog was on a leash. They're always on a leash," he said.

And a woman who says she witness the tragedy agrees.

"Dog was on the leash. For sure," Vivian Rivera said.

A spokesman for the Sanitation Department says, "The driver, employed since 2005, has had no disciplinary action in the past, and we don't anticipate any as a result of this unfortunate accident."

Machin says he would like a better warning system on mechanical brooms. The Sanitation Department says people need to be more careful when street sweepers are approaching.

WCBSTV.com's Most Popular Pages

You need the latest Flash player to view video content.
Click here to download.

Click here to bypass this detection if you already have the latest Flash Player.