The on-the-lam owner of two pit bulls accused of mauling Penny the Chihuahua nearly plowed down a slew of pedestrians and a sheriff during a high-speed chase to evade capture, court documents reveal.
The next day, June 24, a high-school principal helped sneak scofflaw Joseph Columbus out of his kid’s graduation ceremony to avoid arrest, a sheriff’s deputy claims — and the suspect remains in the wind.
“At this juncture, we have no idea where he is or where the dogs are, which to me is really disturbing,” Manhattan Supreme Court judge Phaedra Perry-Bond said as she issued a warrant for Columbus’ arrest at a hearing last month.
Columbus, whose pit bulls allegedly attacked Penny on the Upper West Side in May — and killed a shih tzu mix earlier this year — is being sued by the owners of the poor pooches who claim he is harboring “dangerous” animals.
Perry-Bond, a civil-court judge, signed an arrest warrant for Columbus on June 13 after he ditched multiple hearings and ignored her judicial orders to turn over his two dogs, Rambo and Zooey, to the NYPD.
On June 23, authorities thought they had finally caught up with him, according to city Sheriff’s Deputy Jorge Espinal.
The deputy said he saw Columbus “violate numerous vehicle traffic laws” while behind the wheel of a black Jeep Cherokee with Massachusetts plates in the Big Apple that day, and the law-enforcement official attempted to pull him over, according to a sworn affidavit.
Espinal’s account of what happened next echoed the maxim that there are no bad dogs — only bad owners.
Gabriella Bass
Columbus sped off from the traffic stop, “willfully disregarding multiple red traffic signals and driving onto public sidewalks to maneuver around traffic, causing numerous pedestrians to jump out of the way to avoid being struck,” Espinal said.
The scofflaw’s driving was so dangerous that Espinal said he was forced to end his pursuit of him to prevent the public from being harmed.
Roughly an hour later, officers then found Columbus driving in East Harlem and attempted to block the Jeep using their cruiser.
But Columbus again refused to comply and “accelerated directly towards the officer’s vehicle,” the affidavit said, calling the move “an intentional attempt to ram it.”
After again driving on the sidewalk to weave around traffic, Columbus zoomed off, authorities said.
Officers caught up with him again in East Harlem the next day — at his child’s high-school graduation — when they found the Jeep parked outside Manhattan Center High School, Espinal said.
While the school’s principal confirmed to the sheriff that Columbus was there for the event, the affidavit claimed that the education official “knowingly help [sic] defendant evade apprehension by escorting defendant through back [sic] exit of the school.”
According to public records, the Jeep Cherokee that Columbus had been allegedly driving racked up four school-zone speeding tickets on the day of the initial pursuit.
A white Acura that Columbus was seen getting into after the May 3 attack on Penny the chihuahua has 64 speeding tickets — plus more than 80 parking tickets — since 2021, records show.
“We don’t want him endangering pedestrians or the public,” said Mollie Swears, the lawyer for the two dog owners suing Columbus. “We want him to turn himself in so the case can proceed.”
At the last hearing, June 17 — where Columbus and his lawyer were no-shows — the judge tore into the at-large owner for thumbing his nose at the court.
“He shouldn’t have to come in with a warrant,” Perry-Bond said. “He is choosing to not come in. He is choosing to not surrender the dogs.”
A message sent to the principal’s Department of Education email address was not answered. Columbus’ lawyer also did not respond.
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