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Sept. 4, 2018 By Tara Law
A woman on probation for animal cruelty pushed a probation officer down the stairs of her Jackson Heights home last week.
Elizabeth Grant, 50, went on the attack after the officer caught her hoarding more animals— in violation of her probation, the Queens District Attorney’s office said. Grant also directed a number of racist slurs toward the officer.
Grant faces up to seven years in prison for various charges, including attempted assault of an officer, second degree assault as a hate crime and 16 counts of failure to provide proper food and drink to impounded animals.
Grant was convicted in March of 108 counts of animal cruelty for failing to take care of her 54 pets–cats and dogs–which she housed in her urine and feces-coated home. In April, she was sentenced to three years’ probation and prohibited from owning animals for 10 years.
A probation officer arrived at Grant’s home on Aug. 29, according to the district attorney’s office.
When Grant’s mother opened the home’s front door, the officer immediately noticed a foul smell coming from the home.
Once the officer was inside, Grant came up and confronted her.
“You can’t come in here,” Grant said to her. “You don’t have a warrant, my case is on appeal, You can’t do this to me, I didn’t sign the conditions of probation.”
Grant also started to make derogatory sexual and racial comments about the officer, the district attorney’s office said.
There were cats running around the ground floor of the home, including some that looked underweight, the district attorney’s office said. When the officer started to take pictures of the animals with her cellphone, Grant tried to grab the phone away.
Grant then got up close to the officer to try and prevent her from leaving the kitchen.
“Go ahead, punch me, push me, slap me,” Grant said to the officer.
The officer went up to the second floor and entered a bedroom. Inside, she saw a number of underweight dogs, the district attorney’s office said.
When the officer began to go back down the stairs, Grant allegedly came up from behind her and pushed her. The officer tumbled down the stairs, twisting her back as she attempted to hold on to the railing.
The officer reported a lot of pain after the incident, and she needed to seek treatment at a hospital, the district attorney’s office said.
Soon afterward, the police and the ASPCA executed a search warrant at Grant’s home.
The officers reported that the home had a strong ammonia smell. The space was filled with flies and crammed with belongings, the district attorney’s office said.
The temperature outside was above 90 degrees that day, but there was no air flow or air conditioning in the home.
The officers recovered seven dogs, including three puppies; a cat; two rabbits; two guinea pigs and two betta fish. They also rescued two turtles, which had been found inside of an aquarium in the bathtub, which was filled with dirty water.
Grant is being held on $100,000 bond or $75,000 cash bail, and was ordered to return to court on Sept. 14, 2018.
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40 Comments
I’ve know Elizabeth from the neighborhood (we live one block apart) for almost 20 years. She has always been a bit “off”. While I don’t condone her actions whatsoever when it comes to her animal hoarding/neglect, I can guarantee she isn’t knowingly being cruel to them. There are definitely some mental issues going on and I’m not sure she has even the capacity to understand the harm she’s causing. I’m not against jail time for her (it may be the only thing that works at getting thru to her at this point), I just wish she could have gotten help long ago. And I feel for her mother as well. All involved deserve far better care & living conditions.
She didn’t do anything wrong she loved her animals and she fed them and took well good care of them I think it’s all a scam because the ASPCA is part of the left-wing they are a bunch of Democrats
The world is filled with selfishness, we are too.
All politics and religion are geared towards humanistic endeavors.
Humanism and American version of Capitalism go hand in hand, it’s all greed.
True capitalism allows individuals to thrive, not compare then compete.
Seek truth.
Only a Trumpeter would defend an animal abuser. I mean they defended the sex crime president…
My god, does 69 animals in a NYC house seem at all strange to you?
They included fish, maybe 30 to 40 in a tank.?
They do not include 30 to 40 fish in a tank. Do you read? Do you even bother?
That’s HILARIOUS. WTH does this have to do with political parties? She’s obviously deranged. She was living with them in Filth, not being fed, in 90 degrees weather indoors with no AC and she Loves her pets? Why don’t you go to her house and help clean up?
If she loves animal so much she should have worked at a zoo or at a shelter for animals. She was just collecting not even taking care of them.
Please don’t forget about the innocent victims :
The mother & the animals .
There is not one righteous person, no of even one.
Innocence is a lost term, no such thing.
Truth is truth, live for truth.
actually I heard the animals were jerks
That house and the ones on both side just lost value
That is a health hazard to herself & the neighbors.
This is the story that keeps on giving! Boy, Lulu’s back in town and it seems that fruit salad between her ears has ripened. What’s next? A standoff at a Petland Discount shop, with demands for a flight to Cuba for her and all of the shop’s animals? Accusations that the ASPCA return all her flies to her, too? I do hope they release her, but after about 6 months, just so that we can see what Zelda Fitzgerald will do next.
Prison may worsen her condition, but she is endangering animals and herself, and is also a menace to others. It wasn’t clear in this article, but her mother lives with her in these unhealthy conditions. Everyone must be saved from her, and she must be saved from herself. No easy answers, but letting her slide on probation has failed already.
Its called mental illness. Typical of cats and the parasites of fecal matter. Help is now done by prison, but only for certain classes. Sad, but true.
We are hardly in a position to make a diagnosis, but yes the person is severely mentally ill. Why do we put the mental cases in jail now? Instead of hospitals where they can get treatment? Or they put them on prescript. drugs so they’re temporarily well and let them out where they go off their meds and end up roaming the streets, unable to fend for themselves, sometimes attacking others at random. It’s a broken system no one talks about.
Please don’t caulk this up to some Eco/Animal Rights movement. This seems like a personal fight.
Nothing personal here. I feel sorry for her mother, who doesn’t seem able to live on her own, and even more sorry for the suffering animals, who have no choice. I don’t feel sorry for the person inflicting harm on them all.
What does that mean, “to caulk something up”? I’ve never heard that. Is it an idiom?
I think TOM is just too stupid to know the phrase is “chalk” something up.
Ever hear of autocorrect?
She’s going to rot in rikers!!
You must know her really well because that’s what she really deserves!!!
Clearly, this is a woman who has mental health issues. The judicial system seems to be in capable of taking a global understanding of the situation. Yes, she has engaged (if the reports are accurate) in animal cruelty. However, society has failed to help a human being that is in serious distress. To treat the problem appropriately would provide care to the woman and prevent ongoing (alleged) animal cruelty.
Howard –
Mental health issues has always been used as a attempt to lessen the blame / not to be responsible for ones action .
If she does have mental issues and does not want to take medication then she needs to be away from society.
Clearly she is a danger to herself and to other humans & animals.
The Truth- You sound cruel and sadistic. Nice try in twisting Howard’s word. 1- This woman believes she has done nothing wrong and has never invoked the “mental illness defense”. Yes, if this woman refuses to “take her mess” she should be remanded to a controlled environment with supervision and removed from society to protect society the animals and the “patient”. Prison makes mental illness much worse. Fact!
Yeah, ’cause releasing her and putting her on probation did a world of good. SMDH
The Truth makes a good point: mental health is no excuse for gun violence.
Thank you The Truth, as a fellow liberal I’m sure you support strict gun laws.
Please refrain from idiocy, we’re trying to have an adult conversation about a specific situation. Watch and listen but if you must comment, try to focus on the actual story and do not go out on a tangent.
Tangent?
To the spiritual person, everything is connected, to the disconnected people, they have the world. Good luck to them and blessings to the elect. He comes soon.
Your comment implies that the well being of a human animal is more important than that of a nonhuman. Yes, she clearly has mental issues, but so do a majority of people who abuse children and women. Shall we show them more mercy? Clearly, the law has not dealt properly with the horrible abuse imposed on helpless innocent beings in this case, because this woman was able to repeat the offenses, putting yet more innocent lives at risk. The problem is that we need changes to the laws! Nonhuman animals ought to be recognized as being just as entitled to live happy and free from harm and suffering as humans.
Well said
Thumbs up
Animal cruelty + assault on law enforcement.
Deport her back .
oh wait, she a white American woman.
Are they going to blame this one on illegal immigrants ?
No, that is only used when it actually applies.
What an ignorant comment. This has nothing to do with illegal immigrants.
I thought that all your problems came from illegal immigrants JH resident
Nope, never said that. I don’t recall saying anything about personal problems in any of my comments, only issues facing the neighborhood likely caused by a large, illegal immigrant population.
People like you want to push an agenda…how dare anyone call out illegal immigrants as being a detriment to the quality of life in Jackson Heights and the surrounding neighborhoods, right?