Dog fight ruled a homicide

An 85-year-old man’s death following a scuffle with another senior citizen has been ruled a homicide, according to the medical examiner. The DA’s office is continuing their investigation as they decide whether or not charges will be filed in Otto Mittler’s death. “It kind of validates my feelings about what happened with my father,” Mittler’s son, Mark, said. “It kind of makes me feel a little bit better.”
“There’s so much stress it’s overwhelming for me,” Mittler’s wife of 57 years, Ursula, 79, said. “I can’t handle it anymore. It’s getting out of hand.”
Walking his miniature Schnauzer, Max, on Feb. 15 at 5 p.m. through his Oakland Gardens neighborhood, Otto Mittler’s dog urinated on one of Joseph Marsala’s azaleas bushes near his driveway.
Marsala, 84, responded by spraying the Schnauzer with a garden hose, for which Marsala said Mittler, a Polish immigrant and retired mechanic, responded by punching him in the jaw. An enraged Marsala then pushed Mittler to the ground. He died two days later after undergoing surgery for a broken hip at Queens Hospital. A previous heart problem may have contributed to his death. “My father was a very peaceful man,” Mark Mittler said. “I know nothing about the other gentlemen, but to me it seems he initiated the whole situation.”
Before Marsala was aware of Mittler’s death, he told The Daily News Mittler’s dog had urinated on his azaleas in the past. Marsala added Mittler charged him right after he turned his hose on the Schnauzer. “He gave me a shot to the jaw and I shoved him,” he told The Daily News. “He went down.”
The police initially took a report of harassment but elevated it to assault when they were informed of the broken hip.