Detroit Dog Owners Charged with Felony After Deadly Pit Bull Mauling
Harold Phillips, 35, died Friday after sustaining devastating injuries by pit bulls.
City, Animal Control Sued
UPDATE 05/14/24: Three months after Harold Phillips died after a dog attack, his wife Shauntaye Phillips is suing the dogs’ owners, Detroit Animal Care and Control (DACC), former Animal Control Director Mark Kumpf, interim Director Lori Sowle, two investigators, and a nonprofit that works with DACC, Friends of Detroit Animal Care and Control. The Complaint contends the city allowed the nonprofit to "exert extensive influence" over the enforcement of the city's dangerous animal code.
The lawsuit contends that the no-kill model adopted by the nonprofit and the city to avoid euthanasia, created a dangerous environment. “While animal lives were being spared, dangerous animals remained an unaddressed and ever-present threat to the safety and lives of people within the City of Detroit," states the Complaint. The no-kill model is "utterly ineffective, reckless and deadly." Even though DACC had previously declared one of the dogs dangerous, the city returned the canine to its owners.
02/28/24 Dog Owners Charged
The owners of three dogs that attacked Harold Phillips have been charged with a felony in connection to his death. Roy Eric Goodman, 40, and Trevina Quiche Goodman, 38, are each charged with one count of owning a dangerous animal that caused a person's death. On January 29, the couple's three pit bull-mixes escaped their property and attacked Phillips after he exited a bus. Phillips sustained critical injuries, including an amputation, and died on February 2. The dogs had a history of violence.
"This is heartbreaking," Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said in a statement. "I just do not understand why we continue to see unleashed and unsecured dangerous dogs running loose and killing our citizenry. With pet ownership comes responsibility, pure and simple. I do not see what is hard to understand about that." Roy was arraigned Wednesday in the 36th District Court. A preliminary examination is scheduled for March 13. Trevina's arraignment date has not yet been announced.
02/02/24: Medically Induced Coma
Detroit, MI - A 35-year old man, who was viciously attacked by three pit bulls on Monday, died Friday evening. A GoFundMe for Harold Phillips stated yesterday that his "condition at this time isn't improving. his organs are shutting down." The attack occurred at 8:15 pm Monday on West Chicago and Longacre Street, after Phillips exited a bus and started to walk home. According to Detroit Animal Care and Control (DACC), three pit bull-mix dogs got out of a fenced yard and attacked him.
"Friday Evening Update: It's with my deepest regret to inform you that Harold has passed away this evening. I appreciate every prayer donation and message. thank you all for the love and care you've shown my husband. my children and I are forever grateful."
From the start of his hospitalization on Monday, his family was bracing for the worst. "He is not expected to make it," his wife, Shauntaye Phillips, wrote on the GoFundMe. "I don't wanna say funeral but that's the road we are on." Doctors have amputated his right arm, he’s on dialysis, has had several blood transfusions, and he's in a medically induced coma, she told WDIV. The couple has six children together. So far, the fund has raised $31,800. The Phillips family hired Southfield-based Fieger Law.
All three dogs were euthanized. A fourth dog was also seized from the home. The owners, a husband and wife, received five citations each: failure to license, failure to vaccinate, dogs running at large, over the legal limit of dogs on property (two maximum), and failure to prevent menacing/dangerous behavior. Roy Goodman, one of owners, admitted that his dogs have been involved in three previous biting incidents. Goodman also told WXYZ that he should have gotten rid of the dogs sooner.
In 2021, Goodman was charged with failing to prevent menacing/dangerous behavior for a separate incident. He pleaded guilty, but the case was dismissed. Also that year, his wife was charged with harboring dogs over the city's limit. She was a no-show in court and has a warrant out for her arrest. Harold blamed his wife for not putting down the child-biter. A sign hanging on their front door states, "No Entry. 1.) No humans of any king 2. Must have four paws to enter 3. Must speak dog-Latin."
Family Speaks Out
On Tuesday, Fox 2 Detroit interviewed Phillips' wife and children. "The dogs bit his groin, his head, his back, his legs -- they mauled him," Shauntaye said. The couple has five children under the age of 18. They are 8, 11, 12, 13 and 17-years old. The youngest daughter said, "I'm heartbroken because I don't have a father that can take care of me." Her brother told the news crew, "(There) should be justice -- I don’t know what to say. It’s my dad, it's him, he’s not supposed to die like this. He’s too strong."
On February 1, CBS Detroit reported that the Phillips family is suing the dogs' owners and the city of Detroit. James Harrington is the attorney from Fieger Law who is representing the family. It was his investigation that revealed the bite histories of the dogs. He believes DACC knew how dangerous the dogs were. "We've already started our investigation, and our investigation has been very thorough in a short period of time, and some of the things we've begun to uncover is shocking," Harrington said.
The former director of Detroit Animal Care and Control, Mark Kumpf, may have dodged another bullet. He left the agency late last fall. For once, Kumpf was not the director when "another" fatal dog mauling occurred. Under his leadership in Montgomery County, Ohio, four people were killed by dogs from 2012 to 2017, including Klonda Richey. In September 2019, Kumpf became the director of DACC. Between then and late 2023, at least three people were killed by dogs under his watch in Detroit.
The suspected pit bulls belonging to Roy Goodman that viciously attacked Harold Phillips.
Graphic Medical study: Pitbull Mauling Deaths in Detroit, by Cheryl L. Loewe MD et al., The American Journal of Forensic Medicine and Pathology, Vol 28, December 2007.
View the DogsBite.org Google State Map: Michigan Fatal Pit Bull Attacks.Related articles:
10/18/23: 2023 Dog Bite Fatality: Loose Pit Bull Kills 4-Year Old Boy on Detroit's Westside...
04/06/23: 2023 Dog Bite Fatality: Man Killed by Two Pit Bulls Habituating a Boarded-Up Vacant...
Law enforcement departments across the United States should release consistent "baseline" information to the media and the public after each fatal dog mauling, including these items.
It shouldn’t take someone being killed for animal un-control to do something about vicious dogs repeatedly running loose. I hope the family sues the dogs owners AND animal control.
I hope the pitbulls’ owners go to prison and go bankrupt paying for a man’s life.
Good. Because ACs that don’t follow the available laws, city officials that ignore the obvious danger, shelters that adopt out dogs they know to be dangerous and the negligence of the pitbulls actual owners need to be held accountable.
None of that will bring back the father of these children but at least they hopefully will not live impoverished childhoods due to the loss of their father and the negligence of those who should have been overseeing their best interests.
Is it petty to hope some of financial comeuppance lands on Mark Kumpf personally?
I don’t just want the tax payers to suffer.
Mark actually, personally having to pay for his inaction and incompetence is long overdo.
It is also very unlikely.
You are 100% correct! Sadly, too many places have a law that allows one bite. But, they should have been more proactive about this, definitely!
So disgusting, all the previous offenses these people had with their hideous dogs, and nothing happened until this poor man died. Although still not sure anything WILL happen, tickets aren’t going to inspire change. They didn’t in the past. Those people belong in prison, all their property/wealth now belongs to this man’s family, and they should never be allowed to own another dog if/when they get out of prison. Why do people still want to keep these dogs?!
Poor man dying by vicious dogs just walking home like normal people.notice in the news they never mention that they were pitbull all he said was he was attacked by three dogs .if they put down the pitbull earlier from the previous attack maybe just maybe Harold still be alive all they do is give them citations that nothing to them.
I hope they win and the $$$ comes out of the Animal Control Budget. Maybe budget cuts will force them to euthanize rather than hold indefinitely maulers.
I hope they win a judgment so big, it will need a beacon to warn passing aircraft.
I’m moved and I’m sorry. I live in rural Ohio and this certain breed has attacked my dog x 2, and they chase people around the neighborhood. The owners feel like they are there just like other dogs. I’ve been around dogs all my life, and I’ve never seen this from another breed. These dogs took down a grown man like a pack of wild animals. When you call animal control they treat it like a dog bite. The county I live in the dog warden is a Pit Nutter, and they just built a 3 million dollar non tax payer funded facility that houses half pitbulls.
My hope is that the City of Detroit is held accountable with a verdict for judgement in excess of $100 million. The number has to be large enough to be newsworthy so other cities and counties pay attention.
Mark Kumpf. These names start turning up over and over again.
I think Kumpf needs to be tried for crimes against humanity, Nuremberg style. Hanged by the neck until dead if found guilty.
Pitbulls should be outlawed and the breed should be extinct. Too many injuries and deaths from them. I don’t care what people say they’re genetically predisposed to do this.
This man’s sons are going to grow up one day and see the picture of their father in that hospital bed, helpless, with all of those tubes coming out of him, and his arm swollen to three times it’s size…..and they’re going to be angry. Really – really angry.
Laws on the books mean nothing if they are not enforced. The female owner of the dogs had a warrant out for her arrest because she was a no-show in court in a dog bite related incident. What good is issuing a warrant, if it is never executed? The fallout from this such reach to the Mayor. He is in charge and it happened on his watch. Detroit residents say these dogs are uncontrolled and out all over the city, menacing the residents and attacking them. Fines are laughable. Mr. and Mrs. Goodman should be charged with first degree murder.
I wonder if Mark Kumpf even left a sternly worded post it note on their door or a firm voicemail message?
That is probably too much like work.
I hope the city has to pay out bigly.
It seems Mark’s employers have to do that quite often.
I doubt the owners have a pot to pee in or a window to dump it out.
They had money for 4 dogs but doubt they had homeowner’s or renter’s insurance.
I see that he wasn’t in charge when this attack happened.
His inaction certainly did not help matters.
If the earlier attack had been handled correctly (all dogs removed and PTS owners banned from getting more) this one would not have happened.
I see Mark is now training animal control officers.
Talk about “Those who can do, do. Those who can’t, teach.”
Seeing the same cycle repeated over and over becomes overwhelming after awhile. I hope you have lots of support and practice good self-care, Colleen.
This one hit me especially hard for some reason. I ran across the news video on YouTube a few days ago. Those sweet kids broke my heart. So brave, such a loving family. They should still have their father. Only 35 years old!
This problem makes me feel helpless, but I appreciate the work you do. We have to keep fighting to bring awareness one person at a time.
I reacted this way too. 1. It was because he was young and fit. 2. He did nothing to cause this. 3. If it could happen to him after getting off a bus and walking home it can happen to anyone. We are all potentially going to be mauled by the pit bulls that live in our neighborhoods because at this point we all have a pit bull or more in our neighborhoods. So it brings home our own risks of being a victim of these crazy f¥king entitled people and their dogs! That was the conclusions I arrived at after realizing that this was more traumatizing to me than others!
I hope the family gets such a windfall from the city that the city goes bankrupt. It’s the only language they’ll understand. Then maybe they’ll understand that these dogs do not belong in any kind of residential area.
Is it petty to hope some of financial comeuppance lands on Mark Kumpf personally?
I don’t just want the tax payers to suffer.
Mark actually, personally having to pay for his inaction and incompetence is long overdo.
It is also very unlikely.
If the pit bull owners were renters and had no or inadequate insurance, the victim’s family will collect NOTHING. Even animal
Control may be able to doge liability since the wife was a “no show” in court and they were following “due process”. How many peopme have to die before there is, at minimum, mandatory sterilization to “help” slow down the population of pit bulls and other breeds capable of causing death to humans and other animals???
One of my friends is a personal injury attorney here in Tucson. A few years ago, he handled a case in which the renters’ pit bull mauled a 3-year old.
In my friend’s words, the child had his face ripped off.
Although the tenants were judgment-proof, their landlords’ property insurer certainly wasn’t. And my friend won a $500k judgment in this case.
Darci, I’m beginning to sound like a broken record, I know.
The answer is simple.
Pitbulls need to be illegal. Period. The same way you can’t own a Tiger, you can’t own a pitbull. Phase them out if we must–but in 15 years ALL pitbulls will be confiscated and euthanized. Any presently in shelter/rescue/pound custody will be humanely euthanized. Immediately.
We tried BSL here. It’s been over 20 years, there shouldn’t be a pitbull in sight yet here we are–the advert for the local shelter donations featured…you guessed it…a pitbull. They’re showing up all over and no muzzles in sight. At this point, they should be completely phased out since breeding them has been illegal for two decades.
Making the ownership of pitbulls downright illegal will cause a disruption in dog fighting as they’ll have to rebreed new lines. Bye Bye making money off slaughter for awhile, anyway.
It will stop these pitbull-nanny-clueless culties from running cover for the dog fighters (which is what they are doing) and put an end to shelters/rescues/charities shoveling these dogs onto the general public and free up cage space for say, some friendly beagles and hounds.
It’s a win-win for dogs, for communities, for well-meaning dog shelters, for enforcement of laws against dog-fighters and for everyone BUT the pitbull loons.
@Mark (couldn’t add another reply so I’m replying, here)
Of course the owner of the dogs should be held liable, as well. If he actually has any money. Perhaps he owns the property where he kept the dogs–chances are…he doesn’t.
There’s always going to of socially irresponsible people in the world but when laws exist to limit their impact on society, we also need to hold accountable those that turned away when called on to Do. Their. Jobs.
Another heartbreaking case. Another heartbreaking story. We need laws that will hold dog owners criminally responsible when their dogs kill or maim.
It is a good day when the owner’s of the dogs that killed Mr. Phillips are prosecuted for his death.
A civil suit is next. I hope this family takes everything from the owners to help those 6 children live theirs lives, fatherless.
It seems like Animal Control had a hand in this tragedy as well. I haven’t heard anything about them taking any responsibility. That dog should have been put down after it bit someone.
Very happy to hear that DACC is being sued, and I am hoping that it will make a difference in how they do their jobs. It’s awesome that the responsible individuals are being sued, so they can’t hide behind their organizations and let the taxpayers pick up the bill. Crossing my fingers for a good outcome.