A 59-year-old man was mauled to death by a dog on Staten Island Sunday afternoon, according to authorities.
After a 911 call about a dog attack, police found the man unconscious and unresponsive with multiple dog bites all over his body at a home near New Dorp Lane and Weed Ave. in New Dorp around 4:09 p.m., police said.
First responders pronounced the man dead at the scene. His identity was not immediately released.
The dog was removed by the ASPCA.
On Sunday evening, the house was blocked off with police tape.
Neighbors described the home as one in which strangers came and went at odd hours.
“It’s a scene,” said one person who lives in the area, who asked not to be identified. “It was not a regular household.”
Police had been called to the home several times previously, the neighbor alleged.
She described the dog as a black pit bull, and said it was usually out in the yard, but occasionally got into the street where it would run around unsupervised.
“The dog was out, usually in the yard, but they were quite a few times that the dog would come out from the yard, actually on the street, so the people would come out and catch the dog,” she said. “When I saw it on the street, nobody was really watching it.”
”It was concerning,” she added.
Still, the dog did not seem aggressive or dangerous, she said.
“I don’t consider them neighbors. I consider them people that live there. It’s just not a desirable place,” said another neighbor, who also said the dog had not appeared to be violent or ill-behaved previously.
“I wouldn’t blame the dog,” that neighbor said.
No other information about the deadly incident — including the identity of the dog’s owner — was immediately available.
An investigation is ongoing, police said.
