Dog walker dies after falling down flight of stairs

NEW YORK — A man whose girlfriend is a professional dog walker fell down a flight of stairs and died Thursday while he was in town helping her care for two dogs.

Christian "CJ" Dallet, 53, was in town for the weekend from Massachusetts and had just picked up the dogs from a client's apartment when he fell down the stairs, according to WABC.

"We both had been taking care of those dogs since (the owners) got them, so he knows them inside and out," Carol West, Dallet's girlfriend of five years, told the New York Post. "He may have tripped on the stairs while walking the dogs. I'm trying to deal with this. This is devastating for me."

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Dallet, a longtime Brooklyn resident moved to the Berkshires in Massachusetts a few months ago to care for his mother, according to the Post. He is survived by two daughters, Liliana, 19, and Anais, 13.

Dallet died of blunt trauma to his head, according to the medical examiner. It is unclear if he slipped or if the dogs pulled him down the stairs. The manner of death was ruled an accident.

The dog owner's son was the first to see the dogs pacing around Dallet's body, which was lying at the foot of the stairs. The boy called West, who was in the area walking another dog, according to the New York Daily News.

The dog's owner said Dallet had walked them for years without a problem.

"He loved those dogs," Duke Scoppa told the Daily News.

The dogs, a pit bull mix and an Australian shepherd mix, are not to blame, Liliana Dallet, told the Daily News.

"It was an accident. Neither of the dogs had issues," she said. "It's so tragic. I don't know what one does when you lose not only the person you come from, but your best friend."

Dallet's ex-wife, Melissa Dallet, 52, and their daughters were on their way to meet him when they found out that he had died.

"He loved his daughters more than anything," Melissa Dallet told the Post. "He helped them to be intelligent and strong."

Cox Media Group