A dispute between a bicyclist and someone with a loose dog unfolded recently on a well-traveled section of trail bordering City Park, the Park City Police Department said, indicating that words were exchanged when the two passed each other.
According to the Police Department, the two people were on the stretch of trail close to the skate park. Rick Ryan, a police captain, said a man was riding a bicycle on the trail when a dog off a leash ran into him. The man was not injured and the bicycle was not damaged, according to Ryan.
The bicyclist told the dog owner, a man, to watch the dog, but the dog owner responded with a profanity, Ryan said. The captain said the bicyclist told the dog owner he planned to call the police. The dog owner then threatened to beat up the bicyclist if the police were called, Ryan said, explaining that the bicyclist hung up a cell phone and rode away northbound, the direction away from Old Town. He then called the police.
Ryan said an officer responded to the scene but was unable to locate the man with the dog. The bicyclist did not want the police to pursue the investigation further, Ryan said.
The dog has brown fur, but the police did not have further details such as the breed, Ryan said. The incident unfolded early in the evening on May 21.
The trail where the encounter was reported is a popular route linking Old Town with City Park and Prospector.
“We have had, as long as I’ve been here, a problem with people putting their dogs on leashes,” Ryan said. “They just seem to ignore the ordinance.”
Leash laws are in effect throughout Park City with the exception of the dog park at Quinn’s Junction. Many people throughout the city, however, ignore the laws.
Complaints about dogs off leashes typically tick upward as nice weather sets in during the spring and early summer.