Who is Dora Marchand? NY woman handcuffed and held for walking dogs off-leash in park
A dog-walking trip to the park resulted in being handcuffed for two hours and an arrest for a New York City woman. Dora Marchand was walking her dogs off-leash at the Riverside Park in Upper West Side in spite of rules that requires pets to be on a leash always. Marchand has now spoken out against the cops at the park who later took her to an NYPD holding cell where she was treated like a "real criminal".
There have been many instances of fights that have been sparked over off-leash dogs at the park. An example for his was the highly-publicized case of Amy Cooper who is now being dubbed as 'Central Park Karen'. She was arrested in July 2020 after she called the cops on a Black bird watcher who had requested she keep her dog on a leash. After the video of her altercation with the man went viral, Cooper was fired from her company Franklin Templeton who said they "do not tolerate racism of any kind" at the firm.
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Who is Dora Marchand?
According to LinkedIn, Dora Marchand, an alum of Portland State University between 2012-2016, works at iCloudNexus Companies in San Francisco's Bay Area. "An upbeat hard-working professional with a passion for recruiting, relationship building, and technology that surrounds us in San Francisco and the Bay Area. Reach out if you have a hiring need, are seeking information about the job market, are looking for new opportunities yourself, or even just to get a grasp of the San Francisco/Bay area," her bio states.
Her profile further reveals she went on a world tour after her studies and stayed for longer periods of time as a local in London, Phuket, Bangkok, Amsterdam, Tokyo, San Juan, Mexico City, Sayulita, Rome, Copenhagen, Manhattan, Flushing, Tucson, Las Vegas, LA, Boston, Miami, Portland, Tahoe/Incline Village, Reno. In December 2019, she joined the firm she works at currently which is also listed as her only job which she has held since December 2019.
Dora Marchand alleged she was treated like a 'real criminal'
Marchand was arrested sometime in the first week of August while walking her dogs Comet and Sophie at the Riverside Park in Upper West Side. She was walking her dogs off-leash which is in direct defiance of the a rule stating the pets should always be leashed. Marchand said she was confronted by Parks Enforcement Patrol Officers who allegedly took her to jail for not having her ID on her and for not being able to give them her address.
Marchand said she had moved to Manhattan from San Francisco on July 28 which is why she didn't know the address of the place she was renting. Recalling the incident she said, "I said I was sorry and that I was about to go home. I said I didn't mean to cause any harm.' Marchand said an officer was ready to let her go with a warning but another showed up and started asking her name, address, and birth date to write her a ticket.
"He wanted to write a ticket. I gave him my name and birthday but could not remember my address since we just moved. I offered to walk him over to the apartment I am renting to show him where I lived," she said. She further added, "I offered to go home and get my wallet but he said that isn't how it works. He said I was under arrest for not giving out my address and put me in handcuffs." Marchand alleged she was kept handcuffed for two whole hours while the officers deliberated what to do with the dogs as they were not going to be allowed at the precinct.
Marchand said cages and shock sticks were brought in to secure the dogs and that's when she was able to get her hands on a phone to call her boyfriend who then picked up the dogs. "He brought my wallet which had my ID, but the second officer said it was too late and they were just going to book me," Marchand claimed. She said she was then taken to the NYPD holding cell where she spent an hour and was treated like a "real criminal" while at the facility. She was asked to take off the strings from her pants and was required to remove her shoes.
Marchand claimed NYPD cops laughed at the park police for bringing her in for having the dogs off-leash. "They were kind of all laughing like, 'This is not fascist Germany, we don't arrest people for like not having dogs on the leash'," she said.