By Julia Shipley
A New York Supreme Court judge on Friday issued a warrant for the arrest of Joseph Columbus, the owner of the two pit bulls that attacked Penny the chihuahua on the Upper West Side at the beginning of May. Judge Phaedra Perry-Bond also found Columbus in contempt of court. A hearing on that charge is scheduled for Tuesday June 17.
The judge’s rulings came during a court proceeding Friday where Columbus was represented by lawyer Ikiesha Al-Shabazz. Al-Shabazz said her client was not present because he was in the hospital. Earlier this week, after Judge Perry-Bond ordered that police take custody of the dogs, police visited Columbus’s residence but did not find either the pit bulls or their owner.
The reason for this, the lawyer said, was that Columbus left his residence at 6:05 a.m. on Tuesday before the police arrived to seize his animals.
The ruling from the judge demanding that Columbus hand over the pit bulls to police comes after a court order in March of 2025 requiring Columbus to muzzle his dogs. That order was a response to a January attack in Central Park by the pit bulls, which resulted in the death of one other dog.
Despite the order, “the Defendant (Columbus) made no effort to muzzle the two dogs after the January incident,” read Tuesday’s court notice.
In May, the same pit bulls attacked Penny the chihuahua, who survived serious injuries. Owner Lauren Claus has pushed hard for action, with considerable support from the community and from Lauren Block, owner of the dog who was killed by the pit bulls in Central Park in January.
Meanwhile, in defiance of a second court order, the dogs have still not been turned in.
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