Driver Kills Dog In UES Hit And Run: Report

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — A dog owner's worst nightmare happened on Friday morning.

Beryl Spiegel, 37 was crossing the street at East 74th Street and Second Avenue with her beloved pup, Duncan, 5, a Welsh Spring Spaniel, at about 6 a.m. when Spiegel saw a white van turning right into their path, according to East Side Feed.

Spiegel told the local blog that she put her hands up to get the driver's attention and get him to stop, but it was too late — the van hit Duncan, paused for a moment, then drove off.

She told East Side Feed that despite rushing Duncan to a nearby animal hospital, he soon died from his injuries.

Since 2017, there have been 11 crashes and 15 injuries at East 74th Street and Second Avenue, according to DOT data compiled by Crashmapper.

But when Spiegel went to the local 19th Precinct for help in finding the dangerous driver, officers told Spiegel she should go and canvass local businesses herself if she wanted to view surveillance footage, according to East Side Feed.

A police spokesperson did not reply to a question regarding Speigel's take on what happened when she went to the 19th Precinct, instead confirming a report of the hit and run.

“They were not very helpful,” Spiegel told East Side Feed. “They said I should have called 911 from the scene but my puppy was alive so we went right to the hospital.”

With help from her family, Spiegel eventually found footage of the hit and run at an East 74th Street residence, reports East Side Feed.

In Mayor Adams' recently proposed budget, the NYPD was the only city department not facing belt-tightening over the next fiscal year.

Recent reporting also reveled that the department is on pace to overspend by nearly double their overtime budget of $454 million this fiscal year — up to $820 million.

The NYPD's failure to deliver justice in cases of dog killing was a hot topic in Brooklyn last fall, where a Park Slope dog owner tried in vain to find the stranger who beat her dog Moose as they walked in Prospect Park.

Moose later died from his injuries.

Despite several sightings of the man — including by the victim herself who was attacked a second time by the man and tried in vain to flag down a passing Park Slope police car minutes later — there have yet to be any arrests, fermenting anger and questions towards a police precinct already facing other allegations of misconduct.