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2010 Dog Bite Fatality: Pit Bull Kills 65-Year Old Woman in Lee County

Injuries "Severe"

Ethel Horton Fatal Pit Bull AttackUPDATE 03/08/10: Lee County Coroner Alfred Elmore confirmed in a phone call today with DogsBite.org that Ethel Horton suffered severe injuries in the pit bull attack. There was no mistake in the tone of his voice. "Oh they were severe," he said. The death of Ethel Horton indeed qualifies as a U.S. fatal dog attack, despite animal experts such as Richard Polsky who declare otherwise:

Polsky's website: "For example, there was an incident in March 2010 incident in Lucknow, South Carolina involving a 65-year-old lady in which all news stories initially reported a fatality caused by a pit bull attack, but subsequently the autopsy indicated a fatal heart attack was the primary cause of death (presumably from the stress of the attack). Hence, this incident cannot be included in the database."

03/05/10: Severity Injuries Unclear
The Lee County Coroner reports that the victim died of a heart attack "before the dog did much damage to her." The question is the amount of damage -- were the injuries severe or not? As noted by our language, "Deaths involving non-dog bite injury, minor dog bite injury or cases that lacked a "reasonably clear" determination of death due to dog bite injury are not included in DogsBite.org statistical fatality data."

DogsBite.org will follow up with the Lee County coroner's office shortly.

03/04/10: Mauling Victim Identified
Authorities report that the victim, Ethel Horton, was killed by the pit bull while trying to beat the dog off her 71-year old husband, Jerry Horton, who was first attacked by the animal. The two had been taking care of the 10-year old pit bull, Brutus, for their nephew who lived next door. Apparently, while Jerry was feeding the other dogs in the yard, Brutus "snapped," broke its chain and violently attacked Jerry.

Jerry suffered severe injuries and was taken to a hospital in Hartsville.

03/04/10: Woman Killed by Pit Bull
Lee County, SC - In a developing story, a 65-year old woman who was caring for her neighbor's pit bull was attacked and killed by the animal. Sheriff E.J. Melvin said the attack happened off Stokes Bridge Road near the town of Lucknow. Officials have so far not identified the victim. Melvin said the dog belonged to the woman's neighbor, and she and her husband were caring for the pit bull when it attacked both of them.

Since 2005, South Carolina has suffered at least 6 fatal dog attacks, including the most recent incident. Of the six attacks, five (83%) are attributed to pit bull type dogs. To clarify the WISTV article, 22-month old Allen Young was mauled to death by his father's four pit bulls in 2006. In 2007, the father, Michael Anton Young Jr., 25, was charged with involuntary manslaughter. It is unknown what resulted in these charges.

South Carolina Fatal Attacks

Related articles:
02/04/09: A Recent Review of South Carolina Fatal Dog Attacks (2006-2008)

Photo: WISTV.com

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14 thoughts on “2010 Dog Bite Fatality: Pit Bull Kills 65-Year Old Woman in Lee County”

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  1. Simon said the woman's husband, who also lives in the home, was taken to hospital in Hartsville with non-life-threatening injuries. Officials say the man would have to have surgery to treat his injuries. Investigators say the couple kept several dogs in a back yard pen of the home. Officials say the dog in question belonged to the victim's nephew and it is unclear if he will face any charges. Authorities say the dog involved in the attack has been quarantined and will be euthanized before a rabies test.

    http://www.wltx.com/news/story.aspx?storyid=84732&catid=2

  3. "Legalized Murder on 4 Legs" has just killed the 89th American since December 14th 2004.

    Way to go Pit Breeders!!!!!!!!!

  4. 3rd fatality involving a Pit snappin' it's chain in the past few months…

  5. "the dog involved in the attack has been quarantined and will be euthanized"

    I hope this is true. Every dead pit bull is one less pit bull on this planet.

  6. My god, America. Wake up. Is this #7 in 2010? Are you kidding me? What, every 9 days, an American will be killed by a pit bull?

    Amazing stuff folks, amazing. Why did the United Kingdom ban pit bulls in 1991? HMMMMM…..Let me think about it.

  7. Any attempt to dismiss Ethel Horton’s death as being caused by something other than the pit bull attack is irrational equivocation. It’s like saying an emphysema patient died from lung disease, not drowning, while they were being held under water. The precipitating trauma is the cause regardless of underlying health conditions.

    This is true for the purposes of the law and statistical accounting. It does not matter if an emphysema patient dies in a fire where others MIGHT have survived – it is a “fire death.” And an arsonist shall not rest easy if a death results from a heart attack while trying to escape a fire. In every case, the arsonist is going to trial to face charges of First Degree Murder. (CA PC 187)

    Ethel Horton’s death is not some mere coincidence. Ethel Horton's death is a death by pit bull, and any attempt to consider this something else is absurd.

    (See ‘Criminal Logic’ in the Dogsbite.org archives)

  8. People like Richard Polsky need to be sued.

    They are outright lying and deceiving the public.

    They are falsifying and hiding evidence of a crime.

  9. A tako tsubo heart attack (also known as broken heart syndrome, caused by physical or emotional stress)is still a heart attack and still kills. The cause is the stress, and this attack caused the stress. The death is a direct result of the attack on the husband and the physical exertion of her defense.

  10. isn't dr. polsky the putz who has already been sued when the aggressive ambull or pit that he was trying to rehabilitate seriously bit a passerby?

  12. I love Polsky's term of "exhaustive searches" on the Internet. Richard Polsky uses "Google Alerts" just like everyone else in this business. Google Alerts are sent to your inbox! NO SECRET "HARD WORKING" OR HIGHLY PAID RESEARCH TEAM NEEDED!

  14. Part of Polksy's business is defending vicious dog owners in court…DBO keeping statistics on maulings makes the "owner had no idea the dog was dangerous" defense harder to sell to a jury…nuff said.

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