Articles Posted in Dog Bites

Two Buena Park men are recovering after they were bitten by a pit-bull while taking a walk in the gated community of College Park, according to a news article in The Orange County Register. Larry Zimmerman, 43, and his Siberian husky were the first to be attacked by the pit-bull. Then the dog attacked Zimmerman’s neighbor James Kim, 59 and his wife who were taking an evening walk down the street, the newspaper reported.

Zimmerman suffered bites on both of his legs and his left arm while Kim got five stitches in his chest. Zimmerman told the newspaper that he is a dog-lover himself but cannot understand why dog owners cannot control their dogs. As personal injury attorneys who have represented victims of dog attacks, we understand Mr. Zimmerman’s point of view.

We are ardent supporters of cities and county agencies holding dog owners responsible for their negligence. In this case, this pit-bull and another boxer which was apparently not involved in the attacks, were running loose attacking these unsuspecting residents who were doing nothing more than taking a relaxing evening stroll. What a rude shock for them!
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Two small children were severely injured in a frightening dog attack in Las Vegas after two pit-bulls escaped from their yard and pounced on the 5-year-old boys. One child was bitten on the face and another on the leg, according to Eyewitness News reports. Latest reports on the news station’s Web site say the boys are doing well now although one of them had to get 152 stitches on his face.

The dog owner in this case, will most likely face criminal charges, officials told Eyewitness News. Officials say the pit-bulls were running loose without any rabies vaccines or tags, which are all violations of Clark County laws. The animals have also been deemed vicious, which means the dog owner, Carlos Santiago, could face 12 years in prison and thousands of dollars in fines.
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The Long Beach City Council, in response to recent vicious dog attacks in the city, has approved the creation of a new dangerous dog ordinance that would include stiffer penalties for dog owners, mandatory education on responsible pet ownership for owners who violate the law and implanting microchips on impounded dogs.

According to a news article in the Long Beach Press-Telegram, council members emphasized that they want to focus on how to better educate dog owners and make them responsible for pets that are under their care. Under the new ordinance, which is supposed to be an improvement on existing dangerous dog laws, the city will also impose tougher leash laws penalizing owners of animals that leave their property and encroach on neighboring yards.

The new law will also allow the city to impose fines or level criminal charges against owners of dogs that have attempted to bite, attack or threaten a human or another animal. The law will require owners facing criminal charges to take mandatory dog ownership responsibility classes.
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A 3-year-old boy in Hillsboro, Oregon, is in serious condition after being bitten and mauled by two large dogs in Washington County, according to a news report. Anthony Jewell is still in intensive care after the Bullmastiff mixed breed dogs, apparently with no history of vicious and violent behavior, lunged at the boy and attacked him in the yard of a house in rural Washington County where he was playing.

Both attacking dogs were reportedly shot by their owner before animal control officers even arrived on scene. The dogs also bit three adults who tried to separate the toddler from the frenzied dogs.
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An off-duty police chief and two neighborhood women had to fend off two vicious dogs as they brutally attacked a woman on the street in the city of Blythe, the Palo Verde Times reports. According to the article Blythe Police Chief Robert Whitney and two other women, who happened to be passing by, rescued 58-year-old Jilyne Gouvion who was viciously attacked by two American bulldogs while walking her friend’s dog.

Elaine Merritt and her friend stopped as they saw the commotion with the chief trying to fend off the aggressive bulldogs. The ladies immediately acted and were able to save the Australian Shepherd that Gouvion was walking, which was also being attacked by the bulldogs. The smaller dog was covered in blood when the women rushed it into their car, the article said. Whitney told the paper that one of the bulldogs must have weighed about 100 pounds.

Gouvion reportedly suffered severe bites and cuts to her hands and legs as a result of the dog attack. The dogs apparently first attacked the Australian Shepherd and then turned their attention to the woman as she tried to protect her friend’s dog. The dog’s owner, 37-year-old George Castro, not only got cited at the scene, but is facing additional felony charges relating to his dogs being a public nuisance, the newspaper reported. Both dogs have been quarantined at the local animal shelter and a decision will be made later about their fate.
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Here is a story that is both interesting and deeply concerning. It’s about two neighbors in Chico. One has a permanent pack of pit-bulls as pets, one particularly dangerous pit-bull called Princess. The other neighbor, who shares the driveway with this dog owner, has been bitten by the same dog twice, which has attacked him unprovoked leaving him with a permanent scar on his body.

According to an article in the Chico Enterprise, city officials have agreed that this vicious dog is to be confined in the property and muzzled in public, but not be put down. Obviously, neighbors are concerned that someone is going to die because of this dog in their community. Many neighbors and witnesses who have seen the dog in action say it is potentially dangerous, the article states.

City officials filed a complaint and requested a hearing regarding Tyler Doman’s dog after the victim, Doman’s neighbor, Niels Cecil Nielsen had been twice attacked and bitten by the dog. The Domans have reportedly agreed to all demands made by the city including keeping the pit-bull confined and muzzled, getting the dog licensed, vaccinated, micro-chipped for identification and getting it spayed.
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Here is a brief compilation of dog bite incidents and dog attacks from all over the country.

Vicious dog attack: A man in Wapato, Wash. reportedly lost his leg in a vicious dog attack and is still recovering from his injuries. According to an article in KIMA TV’s Web site, Lew Yallup was initially taken to the intensive care unit, but is now in satisfactory condition. The attack occurred when a pack of dogs attacked Yallup as he picked up cans on a city street. The dog owner faces four years in jail for the attack on Yallup and could pay up to $20,000 in penalties.

Rottweiler attack: A 6-year-old North Carolina boy had to undergo surgery after he was bitten by a neighbor’s Rottweiler, according to this news article. The boy, who was not named, was bitten in the face, neck and leg when he was playing in the neighbor’s backyard during a party with another child. The neighbor reportedly shot and killed the dog before police arrived.
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A Santa Rosa woman, who was badly injured and scarred in a ferocious dog attack two years ago, has received a $1 million settlement, an amount that equals the upper limit of the dog owner’s insurance policy. According to an article in the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, Wendy Rydberg received $900,000 and her husband and two children got $33,000 each, avoiding what promised to be an emotional jury trial.

The victim, Rydberg, who spent four days in the hospital and underwent three surgeries to fix the scars on her nose, cheek and lips, told the newspaper that she is relieved by the settlement and feels that she can now move on with her life. The incident reportedly occurred on April 6, 2006, when an American bulldog owned by 19-year-old Emmelia Dale-Pincus bit Rydberg on her face as she was walking her own dog.
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Nancy Matthews, a veterinarian, is suing the San Diego Department of Animal Services for injuries suffered during an attack by two boxer dogs more than a year ago. She has filed an amendment to the lawsuit she filed last November, according to the North County Times. Matthews said she spent six days in the hospital after the attack, which left her with bites and scars over most of her body.

The civil lawsuit alleges that county animal officials knew the dogs had previously bitten two people and didn’t take appropriate action to prevent them from attacking again. After the original filing the county’s counsel requested a dismissal of the lawsuit arguing that the department was not negligent or legally responsible for the dog’ actions. The court ruled in favor of the county and gave Matthews an opportunity to amend her lawsuit.

County counsel George Brewster has stated, even before seeing the amended lawsuit, that he plans to ask the court once again to dismiss the Matthews lawsuit.

There is not way that Matthews is going to prevail in this lawsuit. It will have taken some clever drafting of the amended lawsuit by her attorney to get by Brewster’s next request of the court to dismiss this lawsuit. Even if she does get by the county’s motion to dismiss the complaint, she’ll have tough time proving her case. If she fails, she will be subject to paying the county’s costs of defending itself.

For someone to be liable for this dog attack, they must either be an owner of the dogs (strict liability) or a keeper of the dogs with knowledge of the dogs’ dangerous propensities yet did not do enough to protect Matthews (negligence).
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An 8-year-old boy, who suffered severe dog bite injuries in Fontana, reportedly told police that someone intentionally set the dog on him. The boy and his brother who were walking down a neighborhood street told officers that a teen inside a house opened a door and let a 65-pound pit bull out the door and the dog in turn pounced on the boy and ripped his face apart, according to an article in the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin.

The boy suffered severe bite injuries on his face and was treated in the hospital and released. The newspaper reported that he had to get a number of stitches on his face. The dog ran back into its owner’s home after the attack and the owner reportedly tried to hide the animal in the backyard. However, animal control officials were able to locate the dog and tried to corner it, but the pit-bull was reportedly still very aggressive and charged at them even after they fired a bean bag round and used a taser gun against it. Finally, they had to shoot and kill the dog.

The dog owner could certainly be held liable in this case and should face criminal charges if the attack was intentional as the victim says. It is really sad that a little child had to undergo the trauma of a dog bite attack. He will probably also need plastic surgery on his scars. We’ve observed that even with plastic surgery some scars never go away.
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