A federal judge has refused to dismiss a civil rights lawsuit filed by a Sewickley dog walker who says a Pittsburgh public works supervisor punched her and hurled a homophobic slur during a 2024 confrontation over dogs in a city park. Michelle Cook, 42, alleges the physical and verbal attack happened after Tara Pinnix, a supervisor with the city’s Department of Public Works, told her dogs weren’t allowed inside an enclosed court at Flynn Parklet in Highland Park.
U.S. District Judge William S. Stickman IV declined to dismiss Cook’s federal lawsuit, ruling that her claim alleges a constitutional-rights violation distinct from the city-code issue already handled by a local civil rights panel, according to TribLIVE. The city had argued that a March 2026 Pittsburgh Human Relations Commission ruling, which awarded Cook $10,000 in damages for discrimination based on sexual orientation, gave her a full and fair opportunity to raise her constitutional claims and should end the matter. Stickman rejected that argument, writing that the commission cannot award the same remedies as a court or a jury.
Cook, a professional dog walker who runs Sky’s the Limit Pet Care, which opened in Sewickley in January 2024, was walking 12 dogs in the parklet’s enclosed court in June 2024 when the confrontation began. Pinnix told her the dogs weren’t allowed there, then opened the gate, allowing some of the dogs to run into the street, and enticed others to leave the court before holding the gate closed and trapping Cook inside, according to the lawsuit’s account reported by TribLIVE.
What Happened Inside the Enclosed Court
The confrontation escalated from there. Cook alleges Pinnix grabbed her shirt, breaking her necklace, and punched her in the face, giving her a black eye. Pinnix, who has claimed self-defense, injured a finger on her left hand during the altercation, an injury that required surgery and was covered under the city’s workers’ compensation policy, per the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s reporting on the case. Pittsburgh police cited both women for disorderly conduct, but a court later acquitted them both of those citations…