Mark Tyson
Member
5 dogs severely maul deputy
Alarm sent Chatham officer to home;
1 of the 3 American bulldogs shot dies
Copyright 2003 The Durham Herald Co.
The Herald-Sun (Durham, N.C.)
August 1, 2003, Friday
PITTSBORO -- Five large American bulldogs severely mauled a 24-year-old Chatham County sheriff's deputy Thursday morning when she responded to an alarm activation at their owners' home, said Maj. Gary Blankenship of the Chatham County Sheriff's Office.
The deputy was checking the premises of the home at 591 Hills of the Haw Road near Pittsboro at about 8:10 a.m. when the dogs attacked her, Blankenship said.
"It was very serious. She had a lot of injuries ... big gashes. If you had seen the injuries on this deputy, you would have cringed," Blankenship said.
An ambulance took her to Western Wake Medical Center, where she spent about five hours receiving treatment, including 28 stitches, for numerous punctures and cuts from bites to her left arm and right thigh, Blankenship said.
She was released from the hospital about 2 p.m. and went home, the major said.
Though it's not known when she'll be able to return to work, the sheriff's office is "anticipating a full recovery," Blankenship said. "We told her to take her time."
The sheriff's office was not releasing the name of the deputy or relaying requests for media interviews on Thursday, so she might have some time to recover, the major said.
"The deputy is under medication right now. She's a tough officer. She's one of our best," Blankenship said.
The deputy has been with the department for a year and a half, and acted as she had been trained to, the major said.
She showed restraint as she tried to get away from the dogs, Blankenship said. She used a flashlight and pepper spray against them. Each time the dogs backed off a little, then came right back at her.
"The dogs had knocked the officer down three times," Blankenship said.
Two men doing landscaping work for the owners at the end of the driveway on the property heard the deputy hollering and came to help her, the major said. They found the dogs attacking her as she lay on the ground 20 to 25 feet away from her car.
Using sticks they picked up, the workers beat the dogs off the deputy so she could get into her car, where she called for help.
"She took some old uniforms and wrapped her wounds because she was bleeding badly," Blankenship said.
The dogs went after the workers, who managed to run away without getting bitten.
About a dozen officers responded to the call, and as they tried to set up a perimeter so emergency medical workers could enter the area, the dogs attacked them. The officers shot three of the dogs, Blankenship said.
No officers were injured.
"One of the detectives that shot one of the dogs, he said when the dog was coming at him, he saw blood in the dog's mouth," Blankenship said.
Officers killed one of the dogs and wounded two others.
The two wounded dogs and the other two surviving dogs were taken to Pittsboro Animal Hospital, which is the closest to the owners' home, veterinarian Craig Correy said Thursday.
"They're stable," Correy said, of the two female dogs, one of which was seriously injured. "They probably will recover. I think they're going to be fine."
The veterinarian said he had performed routine surgery on one of the dogs before.
The sheriff's office would not release the owners' names on Thursday.
"Emotions are high. We had to shoot three of their dogs," Blankenship said.
One of the owners -- a woman -- had been the last to leave the home Thursday morning and had accidentally set off the alarm. But she did not call either the alarm company or police to tell them that it was a false alarm, Blankenship said.
Officer have to respond to all burglar alarms unless they know it's a false alarm, Blankenship said. They handle about 2,000 such calls a year.
Chatham County Health Department Director Dorothy Cilenti said Thursday that her department would look into the incident.
"We investigate wherever there's a bite," Cilenti said.
Pet owners have to provide documentation that their animals have been vaccinated for rabies; the owners of the five bulldogs said that the dogs were up-to-date on their rabies shots, Cilenti said.
"We don't have any dangerous dog declarations or bites to humans from that property," Cilenti said, of the address where the attacks occurred Thursday.
But Chatham County Animal Control does have a file containing complaints about dogs on that property, although it was not known Thursday if the complaints concerned any of the dogs that attacked the deputy, Cilenti said.
Cilenti said she did not know details about complaints against any dogs on the property. But she and animal control officials plan to review the file as part of their investigation into the attack.
As part of the investigation, officials will consider the dogs' aggressive behavior on Thursday, Cilenti said.
Depending on the results of that investigation, the dogs could be destroyed or declared dangerous, Cilenti said.
If dogs are declared dangerous, the owners usually have to ensure that the dogs remain in a fenced-in area or otherwise under control, the director said.
The five bulldogs in the Thursday attack had been confined by an electric fence, and signs to that effect were posted on the property, Cilenti said.
Alarm sent Chatham officer to home;
1 of the 3 American bulldogs shot dies
Copyright 2003 The Durham Herald Co.
The Herald-Sun (Durham, N.C.)
August 1, 2003, Friday
PITTSBORO -- Five large American bulldogs severely mauled a 24-year-old Chatham County sheriff's deputy Thursday morning when she responded to an alarm activation at their owners' home, said Maj. Gary Blankenship of the Chatham County Sheriff's Office.
The deputy was checking the premises of the home at 591 Hills of the Haw Road near Pittsboro at about 8:10 a.m. when the dogs attacked her, Blankenship said.
"It was very serious. She had a lot of injuries ... big gashes. If you had seen the injuries on this deputy, you would have cringed," Blankenship said.
An ambulance took her to Western Wake Medical Center, where she spent about five hours receiving treatment, including 28 stitches, for numerous punctures and cuts from bites to her left arm and right thigh, Blankenship said.
She was released from the hospital about 2 p.m. and went home, the major said.
Though it's not known when she'll be able to return to work, the sheriff's office is "anticipating a full recovery," Blankenship said. "We told her to take her time."
The sheriff's office was not releasing the name of the deputy or relaying requests for media interviews on Thursday, so she might have some time to recover, the major said.
"The deputy is under medication right now. She's a tough officer. She's one of our best," Blankenship said.
The deputy has been with the department for a year and a half, and acted as she had been trained to, the major said.
She showed restraint as she tried to get away from the dogs, Blankenship said. She used a flashlight and pepper spray against them. Each time the dogs backed off a little, then came right back at her.
"The dogs had knocked the officer down three times," Blankenship said.
Two men doing landscaping work for the owners at the end of the driveway on the property heard the deputy hollering and came to help her, the major said. They found the dogs attacking her as she lay on the ground 20 to 25 feet away from her car.
Using sticks they picked up, the workers beat the dogs off the deputy so she could get into her car, where she called for help.
"She took some old uniforms and wrapped her wounds because she was bleeding badly," Blankenship said.
The dogs went after the workers, who managed to run away without getting bitten.
About a dozen officers responded to the call, and as they tried to set up a perimeter so emergency medical workers could enter the area, the dogs attacked them. The officers shot three of the dogs, Blankenship said.
No officers were injured.
"One of the detectives that shot one of the dogs, he said when the dog was coming at him, he saw blood in the dog's mouth," Blankenship said.
Officers killed one of the dogs and wounded two others.
The two wounded dogs and the other two surviving dogs were taken to Pittsboro Animal Hospital, which is the closest to the owners' home, veterinarian Craig Correy said Thursday.
"They're stable," Correy said, of the two female dogs, one of which was seriously injured. "They probably will recover. I think they're going to be fine."
The veterinarian said he had performed routine surgery on one of the dogs before.
The sheriff's office would not release the owners' names on Thursday.
"Emotions are high. We had to shoot three of their dogs," Blankenship said.
One of the owners -- a woman -- had been the last to leave the home Thursday morning and had accidentally set off the alarm. But she did not call either the alarm company or police to tell them that it was a false alarm, Blankenship said.
Officer have to respond to all burglar alarms unless they know it's a false alarm, Blankenship said. They handle about 2,000 such calls a year.
Chatham County Health Department Director Dorothy Cilenti said Thursday that her department would look into the incident.
"We investigate wherever there's a bite," Cilenti said.
Pet owners have to provide documentation that their animals have been vaccinated for rabies; the owners of the five bulldogs said that the dogs were up-to-date on their rabies shots, Cilenti said.
"We don't have any dangerous dog declarations or bites to humans from that property," Cilenti said, of the address where the attacks occurred Thursday.
But Chatham County Animal Control does have a file containing complaints about dogs on that property, although it was not known Thursday if the complaints concerned any of the dogs that attacked the deputy, Cilenti said.
Cilenti said she did not know details about complaints against any dogs on the property. But she and animal control officials plan to review the file as part of their investigation into the attack.
As part of the investigation, officials will consider the dogs' aggressive behavior on Thursday, Cilenti said.
Depending on the results of that investigation, the dogs could be destroyed or declared dangerous, Cilenti said.
If dogs are declared dangerous, the owners usually have to ensure that the dogs remain in a fenced-in area or otherwise under control, the director said.
The five bulldogs in the Thursday attack had been confined by an electric fence, and signs to that effect were posted on the property, Cilenti said.
As with humans, torso shots usually do not provide for immediate stops; people (and dogs) have continued attacking even after multiple shots COM.
