Man Dies Over Dog Urine Argument

Highlander

A New York City man died after he got in an argument with a neighbor over his miniature schnauzer urinating on the neighbor's azaleas.

Eighty-five-year-old Otto Mittler was walking his dog Max, who urinated on the bushes at the end of the driveway. Then 84-year-old Joseph Marsala grabbed a garden hose and sprayed the dog with water, resulting in Mittler charging the neighbor, the New York Daily News reported Sunday.

He came at me like gangbusters, Marsala said. He gave me a shot to the jaw and I shoved him. He went down.

Mittler broke his hip Wednesday and died Friday following surgery, a police source told the News.

Police are investigating the case. An autopsy has been ordered.