A 'DOG BEATS MAN' STORY
Suit over NYC park pooch mayhem
A Big Apple woman turned a walk in the park into a dog day afternoon for one Murray Hill pooch owner.
Burton Rubin was walking his pint-sized, 6-pound Havanese pup last June in East River Park when he was tackled by the woman’s “dangerous” 170pound Great Dane, leaving him bloodied and bruised, he claims in a new lawsuit.
But things got even more ruff for Rubin, 73 — when the behemoth beast’s owner falsely accused him of striking her, his suit claims. “I’ve never hit a woman . . . because of her lie I was locked up, fingerprinted, put in a cell. I had to go to court four times, and she never showed up,” Rubin told The Post. “It was unbelievable. Would anybody push a woman with a 170-pound Great Dane at her side?”
Rubin was walking his pooch, Picasso, past Francesca Di Matteo and her dog, Dakar, near FDR Drive and East 37th Street when the smaller pup let out a tiny growl, his suit says.
Suddenly, the large dog lunged and knocked over Rubin, who was between the combative canines, he claims. Because of construction in the park, the space was tighter than normal, but Rubin said he felt fine walking with Picasso past Di Matteo as she texted, because Dakar was on a leash.
Stunned and bleeding on the ground, Rubin, who said he has four stents in his heart, admits he cursed at Di Matteo, calling her a “stupid bitch” and at one point kicked Dakar in the chest as the pooch and the owner allegedly advanced on him, with Di Matteo telling him, “I’m going to put you on Facebook.”
“She kept calling me ‘stupid man,’ as she kept approaching me with the dog,” said Rubin, an inventor. Rubin called 911, but an officer accused him of assaulting Di Matteo. The criminal case was dismissed because Di Matteo made a “false statement” to police, according to Rubin’s Manhattan Supreme Court papers, which seek unspecified damages.
Di Matteo did not return a message.