Peacock sighting

A peacock, of all things, is reported to have wandered into the Kentucky Fried Chicken parking lot where Columbia Road meets Massachusetts Avenue in Edward Everett Square just south of Dorchester’s Upham’s Corner.

It was 9:00PM, dark, when the peacock wandered out between two cars into the ambient glare of the lot’s overhead lights. This being January, it was cold out and the wind off Dorchester Bay lowered the temperature another fifteen degrees when it blew. The weather didn’t stop some people from standing outside. All the inside tables were crowded and there wasn’t a free chair in the restaurant. A knot of young men and women were passing the time to the right of the side door, deciding where to head next, sharing a large cup of popcorn chicken that still steamed hot out of the fry-o-lator.

Jose Gruzman, 24, of Winter Street on Meetinghouse Hill, noticed the peacock first. He ran at the bird and kicked it into the passenger side, front fender of a green Ford Explorer that was parked in the lot. He continued to stomp on the bird, shouting obscenities in Spanish the whole time, while feathers flew in the air. The young women in the group screamed. By the time the peacock was dead, emerald feathers were drifting in every direction, carried by the wind that whipped Edward Everett Square.

Police officers were called because of the commotion. Most of the people inside KFC couldn’t tell what was going on in the parking lot because of the steam on the windows. They knew violence was being committed and they sounded the alarm via cell phone.

By the time the police arrived, Mr. Gruzman and his companions were sitting at the bar at Yaz’s Place up the street. The police took pictures of the dead peacock and Public Works was contacted to bag the remains for disposal. No tickets or citations were issued, and no investigation was opened. It isn’t illegal to kill a peacock in Boston.