By Kathianne Boniello
Residents of a small Bayside block were fearful this week that the city Health Department would return a pit bull involved in a vicious attack on two Asian Beetle inspectors and a next-door neighbor to its owner on 43rd Avenue.
The dog is one of three pit bulls owned by Ken Tawfik, which lunged at the three men May 2 as they approached his side of a driveway he shares with neighbors and injured them. One of the victims, an inspector with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, was hospitalized for a month and still has not returned to work.
After the attack the dogs were removed from the Tawfik home by the city. None had been returned to Tawfik, who lives on 43rd Avenue between 221st Street and 222nd Street, as of Tuesday.
The victims and Asian Longhorned Beetle Project Supervisor Joe Gittleman said the city Health Department had told them that one of the dogs would be given back to Tawfik this week. Gittleman and the three victims said they had attended a Health Department hearing on the case July 12.
John Gadd, a spokesman for the city Health Department, had little comment on the case except to say it was
