D’Souza Prosecutor Sues Building for Not Allowing Crazy Woman to Keep Dangerous Dog

crazy

Preet Bharara, the legal troll most recently in the news for going after Dinesh D’Souza, the director behind a movie critical of Obama, and causing a major diplomatic incident with India by strip searching one of their female diplomats, has an even wackier case.

Unlike many of the Indians targeted by the Sikh US Attorney, this time Bharara went after a building over a dog. This is a crazy case in a very literal sense.

In December, Preet Bharara, who puts out more press releases than most spammers, announced that the government was suing a building for discriminating “against a disabled tenant” by “failing to permit a reasonable accommodation of the tenant’s psychiatric disability.”

The keyword here is psychiatric. That means crazy, but not actual crazy, but fake crazy, which makes this case even crazier.

I’ll let Preet Bharara’s own press release explain how stupid and illegal his own lawsuit is.

Aaron suffers from chronic major depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder. In August 2012, Aaron took in a stray dog, and, within a few days, began to notice improvement in the symptoms of her lifelong mental illness. A few weeks later, East River ordered Aaron to remove the dog. Aaron requested that East River allow her to keep the dog as a reasonable accommodation of her psychiatric disability, submitting a psychiatrist’s letter in support of her request.

Let’s summarize. Woman lives in building that bans pets. Woman picks up stray dog. Woman is told to get rid of dog. Woman gets shrink to write a note claiming that the dog helps with her depression. Building ignores silly nonsense and tells her to follow the rules.

Instead of everyone laughing and moving on, the worst US Attorney in history sued the building instead.

And then the story gets worse. Aaron didn’t just pick up a dog, she picked up a stray pit bull in a city notorious for its drug dealers and their pit bulls. Drug dealer pit bulls tend to be dangerous and unpredictable.

And neighbors complained that Aaron’s dog was a dangerous animal.

I am surprised that Ms. Aaron was able to keep Rosie claiming she suffers from mental stress. I know for a Fact that her dog bit several dogs around the neighborhood including another resident’s small dog and bloodied her face. They asked her to remove the dog because it is potentially dangerous, Not because she wants a therapy dog.

And how much is this costing us shareholders? Incredibly selfish of her. She exercised poor judgment by bringing a stray dog like Rosie (a Pit Bull!) into the buildings. I know she had to pay for vet bills regarding Rosie attack on the small dog. I can’t imagine how that alleviates her anxiety !

Aaron however claims that the dangerous pit bull is a therapy dog that helps her be more social.

“Within a few days, I realized I was able to do things that I hadn’t been able to do before. I became more social—because of her, I actually know the neighbors in the building better,” said Ms. Aaron, who suffers from chronic major depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder. “If I stand outside the building for five minutes, people stop to see her, pet her, ask me about her.”

I bet if she wore a jester hat on her head, people would stop and ask her about it too.

Ms. Talel pointed to several issues in the East River case that would make a decision in the tenants’ favor unprecedented—most notably the fact that neither Ms. Aaron nor any of the other plaintiffs acquired pets because of their problems but only noticed the animals’ ameliorative effects after the fact. Moreover, they only applied for the “reasonable accommodations” to which disabled residents are entitled after the co-op board demanded that they remove the animals.

So Preet Bhrara is really suing to allow anyone to keep a pet in a building that forbids pets if they can get a note from a therapist that they are depressed.

Since the symptoms of depressions are ridiculously easy to produce (do you feel listless? uninterested in usual activities?) and since any conceivable thing can make you feel better, this is a ridiculous blank check for everything and anything.

Does playing a Viola at 3 AM relieve your depression? Then it’s a civil right.

Americans with Disabilities Act defines service animals—and the many permissions they are allowed in society—quite narrowly as “working animals, not pets” and stipulates that “the work or task a dog has been trained to provide must be directly related to the person’s disability.” It also specifically excludes “dogs whose sole function is to provide comfort or emotional support.

And feeling sad… is not a disability.

We’re mainstreaming idiotic behavior and then forcing everyone else to accommodate incessant claims of victimhood. And somehow the government has decided to jump in with civil rights lawsuits for people who think that having a dog is a civil right in a private building.

He described several facets of the pending cases—the fact that Ms. Aaron’s psychiatrist refused to testify in court (which Ms. Aaron attributed to the psychiatrist not being able to surrender an entire day from her practice) and the state Commission on Human Right’s initial finding that Ms. Aaron’s case did not have merit, later reversed by HUD, as proving that the tenants did not have a legitimate need for dogs.

Ms. Aaron argues that it shouldn’t matter why she got a dog, only that she did and that it helps.

“Their point of view,” she said, referring to the co-op board, “is that you never had a dog before, so you don’t need it. Well, if I had never had spinach before but it makes me healthy, does that mean I don’t need it?”

“If I knew how much a dog would have influenced my life, I would have never been without a dog. I could have been a much happier, well-adjusted person,” she continued.

Somehow I really doubt it.

  • DVult

    Robbing banks helps me with my major depression over lack of money.

    • DogmaelJones1

      And, by God! You should be able to rob banks at will, but only when you’re cash-strapped and feeling blue! Besides, isn’t robbing a bank enabling you to be social, like telling people to lie on the floor, and taking their money? And you should be indemnified against all criminal and civil charges, too. You’d become a useful, happy member of society! But if you rob a bank when you’re not cash-strapped, then your social worker will have to lower the kibosh on you, with a note from your psychiatrist!

      • Larry Larkin

        We’ll never win the war against robbing banks, let’s just make it legal.

        • objectivefactsmatter

          Right. Laws? Way too hard to enforce, man.

      • truebearing

        “But if you rob a bank when you’re not cash-strapped, then your social worker will have to lower the kibosh on you, with a note from your psychiatrist!”

        Yes, but one man’s richness is another man’s poverty. What if he needs huge piles of medical cocaine to fight his depression? That will require frequent hold-ups.

        • DogmaelJones1

          Now, now, drugs are an entertainment medication. Call the guy a coke-head and you could be sued for slander. No one has a right to derogate coke-heads. It’s…it’s…discriminatory!

          • truebearing

            I guess I was being insensitive to the drug culture. Just bringing up cocaine was racist. I shall make a pilgrimage to seek forgiveness from Al “The Snitch” Sharpton.

    • objectivefactsmatter

      There you go. Same logic.

    • truebearing

      Yes, large bags of cash help my depression, too. It’s almost as uplifting as my daydreams about a certain plane crashing that is carrying the…but enough on that. Unwanted visitors depress me too, especially when they are carrying guns and work for someone who doesn’t follow the law.

      • Teddi

        “uplifting as my daydreams about a certain plane crashing that is carrying the…”

        “I have a dream”
        - MLK

        • truebearing

          Yes! I see you’re depressed, too.

  • Paul

    As someone who suffers from major depression, I am appalled at the ignorance of this author. Major depressive disorder isn’t just “feeling sad”–it is a very real and debilitating illness. I agree that a dog that has bit other dogs is dangerous and should be replaced by a more peaceful dog, but mocking someone suffering from an illness is uncalled for. Would you mock someone who has asthma, or breast cancer, or even just a cold? Depression is an illness just like those. Again, if that specific dog is a danger that specific dog should be removed, but allowing that woman a dog to help alleviate her symptoms even if having a dog is otherwise forbidden is a reasonable accommodation.

    • Joe The Gentile

      What you say about major depression is correct. I’ve had it too, and I know. But it’s not as simple as you say either. The writer is right about the immense problem a precedent like this creates. The precedent opens the floodgates so much that the courts will probably be smart enough to say no.

      The writer is right: keeping a dog where it is not allowed will only be the beginning if this precedent goes through. Not keeping dogs is just one agreement. The next thing, you don’t have to keep **any** of your agreements if you are depressed, because you just say that breaking that agreement is a ‘reasonable accommodation; that helps with your depression.

      People can fake depression, and no, psychiatrists can’t tell they are faking if they are good at faking, and even if their depression is real, they can lie about how much something they just happen to want and prefer helps with their depression. Even people who are genuinely depressed can be manipulative and self-serving. So no, there is no way to make this work in the real world. It’s a dumb idea, a crazy precedent.

      • Tim N

        Yeah I’m not really arguing with that point. I just was turned off by the overall tone.

    • Tim N

      Agreed. I’ve grappled with depression as well. For the most part I just deal with it without bothering others. While the article makes some legitimate points, it takes a sneering tone that I found shallow and childish.

    • Jakareh

      A reasonable accommodation is for her to move out of a building that doesn’t allow pets.

    • Daniel Greenfield

      Legitimate chronic depression can be debilitating, but that’s a medically treatable problem, as opposed to someone claiming she feels sad in order to get anything she wants.

      • laura r

        doesnt matter if her depression is serious. its not a hospital ward. dogs not allowed. coops have rules.

    • laura r

      it is NOT allowed in th building. that is why people bought those coops. the depressed person should be voted out.

  • objectivefactsmatter

    Get her a therapy dog endorsed specifically by a doctor. Or sue the doctor that endorsed “Rosie.”

  • Joe The Gentile

    Leftists like Preet Bharara, ALL JUST LOVE to help — provided someone else is paying for it! When it’s not the tax-payer, its some other third party, like the residents of this building.

    The woman, having discovered she likes dogs, should find a home for the pit bull and get a safe cute small dog and live in a place which takes them.

    • kasandra

      I wonder how Bharara would feel if the case were about someone whose feelings of inadequacy were overcome by openly carrying an (unregistered) .357.

  • Joe The Gentile

    >> and since any conceivable thing can make you feel better, this is a ridiculous blank check for everything and anything.

    Indeed.

    Everything we like helps with depression. Therefore the Americans with Disabilities Act requires us to give all depressed people whatever they want as a ‘reasonable accommodation’ to help with their depression.

    Therefore, her rights are egregiously violated by even requiring her to fight her case in court! Once the judge hears that she is depressed, the judge should rule in her favor in advance before even hearing the case, as a ‘reasonable accommodation’ to help with her depression.

  • A Z

    Stephanie Aaron might be helped by the dog. But she could find housing somewhere else that take pets and move there.

    If a person is out of shape for years, having an exercise routine is going to make them feel good. If a person has some psychiatric illness or is just mildly depressed or have poor social skills, I think an animal would help.

  • liz

    This reminds me of the case of the woman who kept a chimpanzee as a pet, and it ended up ripping her face off.

    • john spielman

      i think it was her best friends face

  • truebearing

    Walking through crowded streets with my Bengal tiger is the only way I can deal with my depression. Oh the hilarity that ensues when it roars at scared people, sending them running for their lives. It’s the only thing that makes me laugh, but the city says it is illegal and has eaten too many of the neighbors pets. I’m suing, too.

  • A Z

    “I know for a Fact that her dog bit several dogs around the neighborhood including another resident’s small dog and bloodied her face”

    I have a question about the other resident who’s small dog was attacked. Is her dog “grandfathered in” or is she a resident of a building nearby that accepts pets?

  • http://www.rustedsky.net JLawson

    It’s rapidly coming to a point where only those who claim to be victims have any rights at all…

  • cxt

    Sadly typical of a Leftist.
    The rules simply don’t apply if the Leftist deems them not to.
    The real sad part of this story is the person changing the rules by personal whim will not held responsible should the animal attack someone.
    I’m wondering if Preet would feel the same way should he or his wife and children have to live in the same building or come into close contact with her and her dog?

  • CowboyUp

    If the dog was really that important to her alleged mental condition, she would be happy to move to a place that allowed pets.

  • Alleged Comment

    I notice the lady is not married. She goes to another women for her problems who I must assume is not married also.

    The problem is not the dog. The problem is UNMARRIED women who need husbands. The wild dog has become her husband.

    How do I know?

    The other unmarried women told her so!

  • Hard Little Machine

    Here’s the thing. There’s literally thousands of actual therapy dogs available for little or no cost to people who need them. Only a loon would scoop a random stray dog off the street and call it their ‘support dog’. Come, on that’s…well….nutty.

  • Jake

    This is also the fault of the US Congress, which passed the ADA, and allowed subjectively diagnosed psychiatric “conditions” to be conditions requiring “reasonable accommodation”. Anything is a psychiatric condition and everything is a “reasonae accommodation.” The prosecutor would have nothing without the law.

  • PTSD_patient

    Dogs help with PTSD, when they are trained to detect the symptoms. You are wrong Daniel regarding AMA. AMA recognizes ESA (emotional support animals) for instances such as PTSD. To be an ESA requires a confirmation from a psychologists or psychiatrist that a person can benefit from an ESA.