A 17-year-old boy saved a younger boy from a savage attack by two pit bulls Monday morning as they were walking to school according to story on a CBS website.
Jesus Jurado of Tempe, Arizona had just walked past his neighbor’s pit bulls in a trailer park without incident when the dogs attacked a 12-year-old boy walking behind him.
Jurado, risking injury to himself, rescued the boy who had already been bitten by the pit bulls. Both boys climbed up onto the roof a nearby parked car to escape further injury. According to Jurado the dogs were coming up the car after the boys, so he opened the car door and got the younger boy through and into the interior of the car for safety.
Jurado said the dogs then came after him and he again got back onto the roof of the car.
It wasn’t long before the police arrived. They got the same treatment from the pit bulls, the dogs went after them. The officers shot at the dogs, hitting them both. Animal control eventually arrived, captured the dogs and took custody of them.
The dogs are to be euthanized according to officials.
The 12-year-old was treated at a hospital and released according to the police. The hero, Jesus Jurado, lost a shoe.
Two pit bulls viciously attacking someone is a scenario that I had never seen up until five years ago. Bisnar Chase Personal Injury Attorneys has handled multiple such cases since.
Dogs are pack animals. They hunt in packs. Any dog expert will tell you that dogs, like pit bulls, tend to be more vicious and more likely to attack when with other dogs than when they are alone.
If we were representing the twelve year old, we certainly would be suing the dogs’ owners. If they owned a home or a trailer in the park, their homeowners’ insurance would normally step up and pay the damages on the dogs’ owner’s behalf. However, many homeowners’ insurance companies are excluding breeds of dogs that they consider more dangerous and more likely to cause a claim, such as pit bulls, rottweilers and the Alaskan breeds.
We would also go after the trailer park’s owners under a theory that they knew or should have known of the dangerous propensities of these dogs on their premises. We have had some success with this theory against trailer parks, homeowners’ associations and landlords, when we had facts to support it. It is a challenging theory to prevail on.
Once a landlord, trailer park, condominium or homeowners’ association is sued under the “maintenance of a dangerous condition” theory, they become much more careful about dogs on their property. This is especially so if their property insurance company starts putting restrictions on liability coverage for acts of resident dogs.
Call me with your questions. John Bisnar, 800-598-6998.