Judge Puts Park Off-Limits to Dog Owner

A man whose arrest by animal-control officers at Laurel Canyon Park became a rallying point for a group of dog owners was sentenced Wednesday to three years of probation--during which he must stay away from the park.

The man, Robert Alan Greene, 55, of West Hollywood, was also ordered by Los Angeles Municipal Court Judge Cary H. Nishimoto to serve 160 hours of community service and to keep leashed any dog he walks on public property.

Greene vowed to appeal the case, saying, “The thing I’m most crushed about is that I’m not allowed in the park for three years.”

The city attorney’s office had asked the judge to sentence Greene to 30 days in jail and a $150 fine in addition to banning him from the park, which is in the Santa Monica Mountains above Studio City.

Greene was convicted of violating the city’s leash law and resisting arrest in a three-day jury trial earlier this month. Animal-control officers testified that Greene let his dog, a 3 1/2-year-old mixed-breed named “Princess,” run free in the park on March 31, then resisted their efforts to issue him a citation for violating the law requiring that dogs be leashed while on public property.

Greene said that one of the officers, Lt. Richard Felosky, struck him during the arrest. He also contended that the charges were filed in retaliation for his condemnation of leash-law enforcement practices at Laurel Canyon Park during public hearings before the Los Angeles Animal Regulation Commission.

His case was cited by dog owners in a group called Park Watch, which urged city officials to restrain animal-control officers from using “Gestapo-type tactics” in policing the leash law. Park Watch lobbied for an ordinance to establish dog runs in city parks that won City Council approval in September.

Greene is scheduled to go on trial again Nov. 8 in Los Angeles Municipal Court on additional charges stemming from an incident at the park July 6. The city attorney’s office has alleged that Greene abandoned his dog and obstructed and threatened an animal-control officer.

Kenneth Williams, district supervisor of the West Los Angeles Animal Shelter, said there is no vendetta against Greene or Park Watch. “My main concern is not the severity of the sentence, just the cooperation of Robert Greene in staying out of Laurel Canyon Park,” he said.