man fatally stabbed in dog leash dispute

This is a crazy story out of Brooklyn about a man who was killed in a skirmish over two dogs that were tied too closely together outside a bar. Chai Eun Hillmann, an employee of Branded Saloon in Prospect Heights, was fatally stabbed while trying to untangle his dog's leash from another dog's: Owner Killed After Dog Leashes Are Tangled.

The evening began uneventfully. Anne Joseph, 24, who works at a nearby bar, said Mr. Hillmann, 41, worked as a bartender at the Branded, but was not working when he stopped by with Rocco to see friends and participate in a charity poker game in the basement. Mr. Hultquist was upstairs, she said, playing a guitar and singing songs that he performed under the stage name Francis Brady.

At some point, the dogs became uncomfortably entangled. Mr. Hillmann and Mr. Pagan's wife both moved to unravel the leashes. Then an argument ensued, with Mr. Pagan confronting Mr. Hillmann and Mr. Hultquist coming to Mr. Hillmann's aid, along with a chef at the Branded.

"Hillmann put his hand on Mrs. Pagan's arm, indicating he could handle it," Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne, the chief spokesman for the New York Police Department, said in a statement. "When Daniel Pagan saw Hillmann touch his wife, a fight between the two men erupted. Pagan produced a knife and stabbed Hillmann and another man."

Daniel Pagan was charged with murder, attempted murder and criminal possession of a weapon. It's just ridiculous how a simple, solvable situation can quickly escalate to violence, and suddenly an innocent guy is bleeding to death.