New York

Fight Between Neighbors Prompts Dog Attack at Luxury Midtown Apartment Building; Neighbors Describe ‘Blood-Curdling' Screams

Two men were left bloodied after an argument led to a dog attack at a luxury apartment high-rise in midtown Friday, an altercation that prompted such "blood-curdling" screams one witness says he thought someone was dying. 

The NYPD says the 34-year-old dog owner and 27-year-old man got into a fight, possibly over drugs, around 9 a.m. at The Biltmore, a 464-unit, 50-plus-story doorman skyscraper on West 47th Street. The pit bull owner lives at the apartment tower, cops said; the 27-year-old man does not. 

When police arrived, they say they encountered the men and the dog wrestling on the ground. The owner had the dog between his legs. 

NBC 4 New York captured dramatic video from the scene that shows NYPD wheeling the dog's handcuffed owner out of the building. Shortly thereafter, emergency crews remove a shirtless man on a stretcher and take him to an ambulance. The man has his eyes closed and injuries to the right side of his body, but appears to be responding to emergency personnel. 

Later, video shows NYPD officers decked out in riot gear, complete with helmets and ballistic vets, carrying out the dog in a large crate with a blue tarp over it.

Neighbors said the dog owner and the 27-year-old man got into some kind of argument on the ninth floor. The dog attacked the 27-year-old man.

A doctor who happened to be riding down an elevator at the time tells NBC 4 New York he heard "blood-curdling" screams for about 2 minutes. The sound was so awful, he said, he thought someone was dying. By the time he got into the lobby he realized an attack must have been underway and tried to help. 

Paramedics arrived a short time later. Police say both men may face charges. It wasn't immediately clear what would happen to the dog. 

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