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News reports say that a 7-year-old boy in Illinois suffered fatal personal injuries when he was mauled by four dogs at the home of a neighbor.
According to what residents told the local NBC affiliate, the child, Jason Walter, his mother, and his brother were regular visitors at the nearby home of Eric Shanklin in rural Marshall County, where the incident occurred.
Sheriff Rob Russell said that Walter was attacked in Shanklins driveway on the morning of August 25 by a mixed-breed Shepherd and three pit bulls.
Emergency services responded to the scene and the boy received transport to a firehouse at Varna, however, he died while awaiting a helicopter to transport him to the hospital.
Russell said Shanklin owned the mixed-breed dog and the tree pit bulls were owned by a person staying in a trailer on the property. All four were euthanized.
A firefighter in northwest Houston, Texas suffered personal injuries when he was bitten by a dog as he was attempting to stop flames from spreading through an apartment building.
At about 1:30 a.m. on the morning of August 21, crews responded to a fire at the 24-unit building. Four of the units burned to the ground and two suffered extensive water and smoke damage.
The firefighter underwent treatment for his injuries at the scene. He is expected to be fine.
Police in Minneapolis, Minnesota were forced to shoot twin pit bulls, whose owners were identified as Otello Pitts and Gidget Nicks, after a mail carrier suffered personal injuries in a vicious attack in July and the dogs rushed toward the responding officers. But the consequences may not be over for the owners.
The dogs have been posthumously declared dangerous by animal control officials, meaning that under beefed-up ordinances that have been credited with a sharp reduction in serious dog bites in Minneapolis, Pitts and Nicks could be barred from owning a dog for five years if they ever have another dog that is declared dangerous.
According to officials, the five-year prohibition has been imposed on four dog owners in the city within the past 18 months.
But that’s not the only problem for Pitts and Nicks. On August 13, city prosecutors filed what they say is the most serious criminal charge possible against the two: a misdemeanor charge of “harm caused by a dog” against each. The charge carries a penalty of a fine of up to $1,000 and a prison sentence of up to 90 days.
Administrative citations were also issued against the couple by the city accusing the couple of failure to license the dogs, failure to keep them on leashes, and failure to protect the public from attack. The citations carry potential fines of $375.
But there’s a twist in the case, as the city could have difficulty locating the couple. As of August 13, there was an eviction notice, dated August 6, posted on the residence where the attack occurred for failure to pay rent. A “Beware of Dog” sign lay crumpled beside the front steps.
According to Minnesota state law, landlords must be notified if a tenant’s dog is declared dangerous, because a rental owner knowledgeable about an aggressive dog becomes legally liable for it.
According to the city’s definition, a serious bite is one that inflicts a laceration of at least one inch or multiple skin punctures.
Police officers who responded to the scene said that 45-year-old Phyllis Ward sustained multiple puncture wounds to her legs because of dog bites.
Ward told police that she had been attacked by the dogs about 3:30 p.m. along Patton and Grooms streets.
Upon arrival, the officers came under an attempted attack by one of the dogs. One officer shot the dog, which fled into the woods, where it was later found dead and turned over to Animal Services.
The dog had no ID tags or collar, so it was unknown whether it was rabid, police say.
Ward received transport to Cape Fear Valley Medical Center for treatment. Police say she is also to undergo treatment for rabies.
A woman from Fayetteville received hospital transport on August 2 for the personal injuries she suffered when she was attacked by a pair of pit bulls.
According to what 47-year-old Phyllis Ward told police, she was walking on Patton Drive, near Grooms Street, when she was attacked by the dogs.
Ward sustained multiple bite wounds and received transport to an area hospital to undergo treatment.
Police say that upon arrival, one of the dogs attempted to attack the responding officers and was shot. It was later found dead in woods nearby. The dog had no identification tags and was retrieved by animal control.
Police were continuing to search for the other dog as of that afternoon.
After two separate hectic encounters with the same “big black dog,” an employee of the U.S. Postal service is taking action by filing a personal injury suit against the dog’s owner.
According to the suit mail carrier Marcus Lockhart filed against him on July 20, in Texas’ Jefferson County District Court, John Fore Jr. was aware that his dog “had a propensity to attack people’ but refused to place a lock on the gate to his fence and keep the dog in the backyard.
The suit claims that Lockhart was attacked twice within a year’s time by the dog.
In the first incident, which took place on July 28, 2008, Lockhart was making a delivery to a home in Beaumont, Texas when a large black dog came out of a gate that had been left open and attacked him. He used his mailbag to shield himself from the dog, but suffered a cut to his right hand. Animal Control was called after the attack.
Lockhart was delivering mail to the same residence on April 19, 2009 when the same dog emerged from the same gate that had once again been left open. He again placed his bag between himself and the dog, but fell to the ground and twisted his left knee and ankle. Animal Control was once again contacted.
The suit alleges negligence on the part of Fore for knowing of his dog’s propensity to attack others, but failing to keep the canine on a leash or secured in the backyard.
Lloyd Hughes was also named as a defendant, also claiming that he “was aware of the dog’s vicious nature.”
Lockhart seeks damages for past and future medical expenses, lost wages, impairment, and mental anguish.
Singer-songwriter Vanessa Carlton, best known for a pair of singles, “A Thousand Miles” and “No Ordinary Day,” she released in 2002, recently lost a personal injury case over a dog bite. In May, the 29-year-old singer claimed she was out running in Pennsylvania when she was bitten by a 9-month-old pit bull named Bella. However, the court determined that Bella was not the dog that bit her.
The claim made by Carlton, who appeared for six hours of the trial, failed to match the evidence. According to a report from TMZ.com, the dog’s owners utilized several forensic experts, including dog behavior specialists and canine dentists, in order to prove that Bella was not the dog responsible.
A mold of Bella’s teeth failed to match up with the bite marks on Carlton’s body. Had the evidence met Carlton’s claim, the dog would have been euthanized. However, the judge ruled in the dog’s favor and returned it to the owners.
A woman suffered severe personal injuries when she was bitten on the face by a dog at McNaughton Park in Elkhart, Indiana on the evening of June 15.
Police say the 41-year-old woman was at the park with a group of people when she encountered a man who was walking a Labrador and asked if she could pet it. When she began flailing her arms, the dog bit her on the lip.
The police report says that the bite wound was severe.
The Elkhart Police Department’s animal control officer is conducting a follow-up investigation.
Police in Fargo, North Dakota say that a 51-year-old woman was sent to the emergency room for the personal injuries she suffered when she was bitten on the face when she bent down to pet a stranger’s dog on June 8.
Sgt. Mark Lykken said that the victim said that she was smoking a cigarette outside the Bismarck Tavern around 8:30 p.m. when a woman with two dogs walked by.
According to what the victim told police, she bent down to pet the larger of the two dogs, but the dog bit her in the face. She received ambulance transport to MeritCare Hospital with an apparent bite to the face, according to Lykken.
However, the owner of the dogs says that when the victim bent down to pet the dog, it did not bite her face, it merely scratched her.
Lykken said that police would check the dog’s shots record, but they appear to be current. He also issued a reminder to always ask the owner’s permission before petting a dog.
The man whose dog police say bit and caused personal injuries to the son of singer Edwin McCain has requested a jury trial.
The owner of the dog, Kenneth Shaw, was summoned to appear in court on the afternoon of June 2. However, his attorney requested a trial by jury, meaning that the case will be heard out on a later date.
Shaw has been charged with violating the city of Greenville, South Carolina’s vicious dog ordinance.
Two weeks prior to the scheduled court appearance, investigators say that a Rottweiler owned by Shaw bit McCain’s son, 4-year-old Watt McCain, at a YMCA during a soccer game.
The police report said that McCain’s son was running close to the side lines when the dog was startled and bit him in the face.
McCain and the plastic surgeon who treated his son are calling for the YMCA and other such places to change their policies and ban pets at children’s events.
Shaw wrote an apology statement to the McCain family prior to the Greenville Municipal Court appearance on June 2.
A 9-year-old Spring Lake boy is getting better after he was attacked by a pit pull.
Aaron Smith was attacked by the pit bull on May 26. According to his stepfather, Jody Pendleton, Aaron suddered from bone-deep wounds in his leg.
Aaron and a friend were talking with each other at the edge of the yard. As he was walking back to his bike the dog lunged at him biting his left leg.
Aaron's stepfarher said children had been chased by the dog on previous occasions. The owner of the pit bull, Jim Fink said the dog was harmless.
Even though the injuries were not serious, the dog had bitten two other children in the past year.
Harnett County does not have a leash law. The owner kept the dog tied, but the dog breaks loose from time to time.
According to Rhonda Hudson, interim animal control directorthe county does not have the authority to immediately remove the dog from the premises.
After an attack, the owner is required tp pay a fine in the amount of $70.00 tp release the animal from quarantine. Then the owner would have to confine the animal at home.
The owner would be required to keep the animal in a secured environment.
Hudson says Fink surrendered the dog, which means the dog will be euthanized.
Still, Pendleton says Harnett County needs a tougher law.
According to officials, concerned neighbors can petition animal control to remove a potentially dangerous animal. The agency reviews the request and decides whether the animal should be taken away.
A Portland, Oregon police officer who suffered personal injuries when he was bitten by a pit bull during an investigation in early April had to undergo a surgical procedure to remove a portion of his thigh after the bite wound became seriously infected, according to a spokesperson from the Police Bureau.
On April 12, Officer Stephen Gandy was bitten by the dog during a drug investigation in Southeast Portland. As Gandy was approaching fleeing suspects, police say a pit bull ran out of a nearby home and bit him.
Police said that Gandy's bite was a little swollen at the time, but he was expected to recover.
After the surgery, Gandy was listed in serious condition.
A 78-year-old North Carolina woman was attacked by an aggressive dog in Henry County, shinning a spotlight on aggressive dog attacks and NC seniors. The dog is being kept at Animal Control after the owner turned him in to Henry County officials.
The family of a boy who suffered personal injuries when he was bitten by a dog at the Hamilton County, Indiana Humane Society says that they are now considering taking legal action.
On the day of the incident, the 6-year-old boy wandered into an enclosed area where a dog was being kept in isolation. He opened a cage and the dog escaped, biting him several times.
The boy required nearly 40 stitches, including in his face.
According to shelter officials, the isolation room doors were unlocked. They believed signs and paper blocking visitors from seeing the dog were enough to keep visitors away. They also said that the dog had no history of aggressive behavior.
Oregon authorities say that the 4-year-old daughter of a reality TV show star has suffered fatal personal injuries from being mauled by the family’s Rottweiler.
According to Clatsop County Sheriff Tom Bergin, 4-year-old Ashlynn Anderson’s mother discovered her on their lawn in Astoria on February 28, badly wounded. Ashlynn Anderson is the daughter of Jesse Browning, who stars alongside his father on The History Channel’s “Ax Men,” a show about the logging industry.
Anderson received air transport to a hospital in Portland, where she was pronounced dead on arrival.
The attack occurred exactly four years after an incident in which officers removed a Rottweiler from the same home after it attacked an adult family member. The two Rottweilers at the home have been quarantined.
The Animal Services Unit of the Asheville Police Department is looking for information in two incidents in which people suffered personal injuries from dog bites on February 25.
In the first incident, which occurred at approximately 10 a.m., a man was taking food to his hotel room on Tunnel Road when he was jumped on by a dog. He pushed the dog off of him and it responded by biting him.
In the second incident, which occurred around 11:30 a.m., a woman was exiting her car in a parking lot on Biltmore Avenue when a dog that had been running loose bit her.
In both of the incidents, the dog responsible for the attack was described as a pit bull terrier with white and black fur wearing an old blue or green collar.
Officers searched the surrounding areas, but as of February 26, they had not yet located the dog or the dog’s owner.
Shortly after 2:15 p.m. on February 12, an 8-year-old girl from Dewey, Arizona suffered serious personal injuries when a family member’s 3-year-old pit bull mix “Knuckles” attacked her.
Officers responded to Yuma Regional Medical Center East Campus about an hour after the attack to investigate a dog bite report. Upon their arrival at the scene, they learned that the girl and her family were visiting a grandparent in Prescott Valley, Arizona. The girl was playing in the residence when the dog apparently ran to her and bit her on the face.
Family members were able to get the dog to release the girl with verbal commands, but she had already suffered serious facial injuries. The attack is believed to have been unprovoked.
The girl received transport to YRMC for treatment for severe facial wounds. She was then flown to Phoenix Children’s Hospital, where she underwent surgery. She reportedly will require several more surgical procedures to repair damage caused by the attack.
The incident report said that the dog has not shown aggressive behavior prior to the attack. The girl was reportedly in fair condition and remained in the hospital.
A woman is recovering from the personal injuries she suffered in a vicious dog attack in Hamilton, Ohio.
According to Stacey Martin, she was locking her car doors when a dog bit her ankle. She turned around and the dog lunged for her face. She then attempted to push the dog away, but it began attacking her thigh.
Martin said that the attack was so violent that she required aid from neighbors to get the dog away from her.
Upon her arrival at the hospital, Martin said that doctors were shocked by the bite. She said that she was told that she was very fortunate due to how close it was to the main artery in her leg. The staff said it was likely one of the worst bites they’ve ever seen.
Martin received three stitches in her ankle and 22 staples in her thigh.
The U.S. Customs and Border Patrol says that a 4-year-old girl suffered personal injuries after one of its dogs bit her during a training exercise at Washington Dulles International Airport.
According to spokeswoman Kelly Ivahnenko, the incident took place at approximately 10:30 a.m. on February 18 at the domestic terminal baggage facility. She said the reason for the dog, a Belgian malinois, attacking the child is not known.
Ivahnenko said that the dog bit the girl on her abdomen. She immediately received medical attention and received hospital transport. Her condition was not known.
According to Ivahnenko, dog bites are uncommon and the agency is making every effort to determine the cause and take appropriate steps to prevent it from occurring again.
On January 6, a UPS delivery man suffered personal injuries, losing the tip of his right index finger, after being bitten by a dog in Rock Springs, Wisconsin.
According to a report from the Sauk County, Wisconsin Sheriff’s Department, 50-year-old Richard Hehenberger was injured when he was bitten on the hand by a more than 100 pound Rhodesian Ridgeback while delivering a package to the residence of Rebecca Mellenthin.
According to Mellenthin, as Hehenberger went to set the packages down on the step, the dog broke free of her hold, lunged at him, and bit the tip of his finger off.
The report said the tip of Hehenberger’s finger was kept in a glove and placed in Mellenthin’s freezer and the rest of the finger and hand were wrapped in gauze until medical personnel arrived.
Hehenberger received ambulance transport to St. Clare Hospital in Baraboo, Wisconsin. The Sauk County Humane Society ran several tests to confirm that the dog was current with its rabies shot and other vaccinations.
According to Sauk County Humane Society director, anything from Hehenberger getting close to the dog’s face or the dog simply wanting to play with the packages being delivered could have caused the attack.
A $2 million personal injury dog bite suit against the City of Cookeville, Tennessee and the Cookeville Police Department has been settled for $20,000. The suit was filed last year after a March 14, 2008 incident in which Melo, a police dog that has since been taken out of service, escaped his handler, Officer Chase Mathis, and attacked an innocent man who was taking out the garbage at a Cookeville bar.
The suit was filed by Ryan Patrick Moody, who was employed by The Library bar as a bouncer at the time of the incident. He named the city, the police department, Mathis, and Police Chief Bob Terry as defendants.
At approximately 3 a.m. on the day of the incident, Moody walked out the back door of the bar to take the trash out. Mathis had just stopped his car not far away to let the dog out to relieve itself. The dog was not on a leash and took off running in the direction of a noise it apparently heard and attacked Moody.
The suit alleged that the dog attempted to bite Moody on the neck and he attempted to fight it off using empty trash cans. He said he retreated to the bed of a truck, but the dog circled the vehicle and jumped up into the bed and bit him on the leg. Mathis then ran to the scene and attempted to pull the dog away and other officers eventually arrived to help as well.
Moody suffered serious wounds to his leg that required surgery. The suit claims Melo had a history of vicious attacks that were known by the police force and that the department either disregarded the fact or was negligent in keeping the dog in service.
The suit came before Judge Amy Hollars in Circuit Court in December for a settlement which had been worked out between Moody and the city’s attorney. According to court documents, in exchange for $20,000, Moody settled his claims against all of the defendants for forever.
A woman from Longview, Texas has been charged with child endangerment after her 3-year-old daughter sustained personal injuries when she was attacked by four pit bulls while at a friend’s home.
At approximately 1 p.m. on January 11, Longview police and animal control officers responded to Good Shepherd Medical Center after medical personnel reported that a child had been attacked by dogs. According to a news release from Longview police, the young girl had dog bites covering her body and had suffered “serious injuries” to her face and head.
According to the child’s mother, she was visiting the home of a friend when she allowed her daughter to go unsupervised into the backyard, where the dogs were. She said the child had been around the dogs before.
Police have not released the woman’s name because she has not been arrested, according to spokesman Kevin Brownlee.
An Ohio Supreme Court ruling could result in more trouble for dog owners taken to court for the personal injuries their animals cause.
In a case that was initially filed in Summit County, Ohio, the court ruled 5-2 on January 6 that owners could be sued both under the state’s dog bite law and for more general negligence.
The decision was in favor of a 12-year-old girl who suffered head injuries when she was mauled by a dog.
A trial judge had allowed the girl’s mother to only file suit under the dog bite statute, limiting the monetary award in the case. Compensatory damages of $5,000 were awarded for the girl’s medical expenses.
According to the Supreme Court’s ruling, the mother should have also been permitted to pursue a negligence claim for possible punitive damages.
A 52-year-old woman from Solsberry, Indiana was hospitalized on the morning of January 2 for the personal injuries she suffered in a vicious attack by a neighbor’s pit bull dog.
The attack continued until Greene County Sheriff’s Reserve Deputy Jeffery Payton arrived at the scene and killed the dog.
The victim, Rhonda Patton, received emergency medical treatment by Greene County Ambulance Service before receiving transport to Bloomington Hospital.
Patton was listed in fair condition as of January 4. Greene County Sheriff’s Deputy Terry L. Wade said that she sustained numerous punctures and bites to her arms, legs, left side of the head, and back.
Apparently, Patton was walking toward the home of a neighbor, Charles Mulvey, when three dogs met and attacked her. Patton was apparently walking toward a neighbor's house when she was met by three dogs and attacked. The attack occurred on his property, but the dog that attacked her was owned by Brandon Artis, who also resides on the property.
According to Douglas County, Colorado Animal Control, the owners of a pit bull that attacked a man and his daughter, leaving them with personal injuries, in Roxborough Park are expected to be charged.
According to Joe Stafford of animal control, the dog’s owners were out of time on December 27, the date of the attack. Another person was caring for the pit bull when the attack occurred.
Eyewitness reports say the daughter was walking her dog when the pit bull threatened her. When her father came to her aid, they were attacked. Both were admitted to a local hospital.
The dog remains in the custody of animal control and remain so until the case has been settled in court.
