Panel Seeks Inquiry Into Leash-Law Crackdown at Park

A series of fur-flying incidents, some leading to arrests, prompted the Los Angeles Animal Regulation Commission to ask Monday for an investigation of leash-law enforcement practices at Laurel Canyon Park.

The action was requested by dog owners who frequent the park in an affluent mountain neighborhood above Studio City. It is the latest chapter in a shaggy-dog story that has escalated into a bitter conflict between animal control officers and the dog owners.

In the past five weeks, a city crackdown on dogs running loose in the park has resulted in 61 citations to owners of unleashed dogs, according to animal control officials. Those citations, carrying fines of $43, have been written by crews of officers working overtime to help make the park safe for families and children who have complained about the dogs, said Lt. Richard Felosky, a district supervisor for animal control.

But dog owners, represented by Sherman Oaks attorney Brian Petrunich, have charged that animal control officers have been “more than overzealous” in their enforcement of the leash law. Petrunich said the officers have gone so far as to cause a collision between a city car and the car of a dog owner who was trying to leave the park. They also chased one partly blind man into the brush of Laurel Canyon, Petrunich said.

That man, whose dog had been kept on a leash, fell and was pounced on by three officers who struck him in the back and face, Petrunich said.

“This is a course of conduct . . . to harass dog owners and prevent them from using the park,” Petrunich said. “There are many more cases.”

Felosky, who said he has overseen the leash-law crackdown, described the situation at the park as “a zoo--you wouldn’t believe it.” But he attributed the hostilities to a small faction of dog owners who insist on letting their animals run free. He denied that any of the officers had harassed or struck dog owners.

Felosky said arrests were made in two of the incidents cited by Petrunich, with both cases still pending.

The 55-year-old man who was chased into the canyon had violated the leash law, then tethered his animal and tried to avoid the officers, Felosky said. The man’s vision did not seem to be impaired, he said.

“He fell into a ditch,” Felosky said. “I took hold of his wrist, asked him not to struggle. I’m the only one who laid hands on him, and that was to restrain him.”

In another incident, he said, it was a dog owner who backed his car into a city vehicle after being stopped for allowing two dogs to run free. Petrunich argued that that dog owner had kept his dogs on a leash.

Commission members voted 5-0 to ask for an investigation by Robert Rush, general manager of the city’s Animal Regulation Department. Rush said he would report back to the commission as soon as he could prepare his findings.

In addition, the board approved a resolution recommending that areas in some city parks be set aside for use exclusively by dogs, which would be allowed to run free. Such areas, perhaps set off by fences, would enable owners to exercise dogs and protect the safety of other park visitors, Commissioner William Putney said.