"Tell them to step it up. Tell them to step it up!" - Audio Dispatch Files
Pit bull attack in Maine shows that "classic pit bull attack" traits never change.
Classic Pit Bull Attack
Lewiston, ME - On Thursday morning, a 71-year old woman was viciously attacked by a loose pit bull while she raked leaves in her own yard. The dog was still actively attacking the woman when police arrived. The first officer on scene said the woman was yelling, "He (the dog) is killing me." The officer Tased the pit bull, which "momentarily" stopped the attack. The pit bull then returned to biting the woman on her face and neck. The officer then shot and killed the attacking pit bull.
After being shot by a firearm, the pit bull was still able to bite the woman one last time before running a short distance and finally dying.
Paramedics rendered medical aid and transported the victim to Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston where she is currently being treated for injuries to both arms, leg, neck and face. About 2:30 p.m., a relative told the Sun Journal that the woman was undergoing surgery to repair extensive damage to both her arms, her thighs and her face. She described the attack as a "mauling." It is believed the dog broke through a damaged section of a fence to attack the woman.
Audio dispatch files from Lewiston Fire and EMS are chilling. Dispatcher states, "Female actively being attacked by a pit bull." Three minutes later, "Dog is still attacking her. Female's arm and hands are injured. Just won't let go." Then a male voice states, "Tell them to step it up. Tell them to step it up!" Dispatcher tells police, "Can you step it up? United is on scene. Dog still attached to her arm. Won't let go." Finally, a man states, "Dog's been shot. Victim is pretty bad off here."
Elements of a Classic Pit Bull Attack
- Unprovoked attack off its owner's property.
- A sustained attack lasting 10 minutes or longer.
- A tenacious, relentless, repeated attack that cannot be stopped through normal means.
- Non-lethal human intervention fails. Police said witnesses tried to get the dog to release its grip on the woman’s arm.
- Non-lethal Taser fire fails. The Taser only stopped the attack "momentarily" and the dog went right back to biting.
- Lethal firearm intervention stops the attack, but after being shot and before dying, the pit bull was still able to bite the woman one last time.
Pit Bulls also possess the quality of gameness, which is not a totally clear concept, but which can be described as the propensity to catch and maul an attacked victim unrelentingly until death occurs, or as the continuing tenacity and tendency to attack repeatedly for the purpose of killing. It is clear that the unquantifiable, unpredictable aggressiveness and gameness of Pit Bulls make them uniquely dangerous.
Pit Bulls have the following distinctive behavioral characteristics: a) grasping strength, b) climbing and hanging ability, c) weight pulling ability, d) a history of frenzy, which is the trait of unusual relentless ferocity or the extreme concentration on fighting and attacking, e) a history of catching, fighting, and killing instinct, f) the ability to be extremely destructive and aggressive, g) highly tolerant of pain, h) great biting strength, i) undying tenacity and courage and they are highly unpredictable. - Vanater v. Village of South Point (1989)
The 1989 ruling shows that the characteristics of a pit bull attack do not change over time. This is why over 1,000 jurisdictions in the US still regulate the breed. This is why jurisdictions in at least 54 countries worldwide have breed safety laws regulating pit bulls. In 43 of those countries, the regulation is a national-level law. During Wave 1 of state preemption bills, the state of Maine preempted breed-specific laws in 1991, barring local governments from adopting pit bull laws.
The Pit Bull Owner
Lewiston police identified the owner as 35-year old David Davis of 12 Myrtle Street. Davis was charged with "Keeping a Dangerous Dog, Failing to license and vaccinate a dog and allowing a dog to run at large," according to police. These are all low level crimes (only one is a Class D fine under Maine law).1 Davis is scheduled to answer to those charges at Lewiston District Court on August 11, 2021 -- about 3.5 months later than any other state would schedule this hearing!
Press release from LPD: PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Thursday, April 15, 2021 at 4 pm
Lieutenant David St.Pierre
(207) 513-3001 ext. 3323At approximately 11:14 am on this date, the Lewiston Police Department responded to a frantic call for assistance at 34 Helen Street. The caller reported a 71 year old woman was "being attacked by a pit bull." The caller further reported the dog was "attached to the elderly female." Reports and updates continued to come in as officers responded to the scene and were updated. The information indicated the woman was on the ground being mauled by the dog and her arm and hand was severely injured. The woman reportedly lost consciousness prior to the officer's arrival as the dog continued its attack.
Upon arriving, a Lewiston police officer took quick action when he observed the dog continuing to aggressively bite the women and noting the woman; laying on the ground screaming for help, had sustained significant, evident injuries to her arm. The woman was clearly in distress and was yelling, "he (the dog) is killing me." The officer tased the animal which momentarily stopped the attack on the woman. The dog then attempted to bite the officer and then turned its attention back to the woman; biting her on the face and neck. The officer; fearing that this bite would result in fatal injuries to the woman, shot the dog once with his handgun in the side. Despite being shot, the dog was able to bite the woman one last time before running a short distance where it died.
Paramedics were on scene and rendered medical assistance and transported the victim to Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston where she is currently being treated for injuries to both arms, leg, neck and face. This attacked appears to be not provoked as the woman was out raking in and around her yard. Our animal control officer also responded to the scene and is involved in this on-going investigation. The animal will be transported to Augusta for rabies testing.
The dog owner has been identified as 35 year old David Davis, of 12 Myrtle St in Lewiston. At this time, we have charged Davis with Keeping a Dangerous Dog, Failing to license and vaccinate a dog and allowing a dog to run at large. He is scheduled to answer to those charges at Lewiston District Court on August 11, 2021. There is a possibility for additional charges to be filed at the conclusion of the investigation.
Related articles:
02/02/21: Estimated U.S. Jurisdictions with Breed-Specific Laws (2020-2021)
06/24/15: The Mechanics of a "Classic" Unprovoked Pit Bull Attack - Alaska
05/20/15: A Primer on State Preemption Laws and Charts for Advocates
05/05/09: Alexandra Semyonova: Heritability of Behavior in the Abnormally Aggressive Dog
Unfortunately pit bull ownership is a cult.. a cult that preys on the low-IQ, low-class individuals, especially impressionable young women.
They get tricked into adopting a pit bull and then quickly get brainwashed with the pitbull-cultist thinking.
The only solution to these kinds of cults is to break them up. Don’t try to reason with these people, you just have to de-program them and of course, euthanize their dogs immediately.
Here in Tucson, I’m seeing plenty of otherwise intelligent, affluent people who have succumbed to the “rescue” rhetoric.
And what are they “rescuing?” Pit bulls.
Pit bulls are owned by a diverse range of people, male and female. I see pit bulls at dog parks, hiking trails, farmer’s markets, doggy parades, and vet waiting rooms. In fact, some vets here in the South will say that pit bulls make good pets. Pit bull owners are no less intelligent than other dog owners. They just choose to ignore the pit bull’s history as a game breed, they buy into the myth of the “misunderstood breed,” and they dismiss centuries of documented lethal aggression against humans and other animals as isolated incidents. So you are probably correct when you say that you cannot reason with them, but I have to politely disagree when you say pit bull owners are “low -IQ, low class individuals.”
What is common in most if not all pit bull owners is a certain dissociation from reality and/or ill intent.
Annie Hornish is low-class. Just not in the way you seem to be defining low-class.
American society is a society that allows the top most dangerous canine breeds to cause end of life for newborns, toddlers, children, the elderly and everyone else. This elderly lady survived all of the rigors of earthly life in America, only to be severely mauled by a dangerous animal that American society forces upon its own young and elderly. Our society literally feeds on the flesh of its own young and old. Having to live on earth with microbial hazards, transportation hazards, armed soco-econimic conflict, et cetera is not enough. On top of all of that, evil people have to add fur-covered, legged sharks to all of our neighborhoods. The fact that the laws of our country allow young and old to always and everywhere be at unreasonably elevated risk of the grave threat of dangerous pet animal attack shows that the laws of our country are legislated by evil people. If federal and state legislators were not evil people, the law would have eliminated dangerous canines from our society a long time ago. The top most dangerous breeds in our society are a huge taste of hell on earth in America, brought to us by evil legislators. Evil is as evil does.
Evil is as evil fails to do.
Such a good point. These dogs inflict severe, sustained, excruciating torture on their victims. Torture! Guns do not do this. The military is not allowed to do this. Large wild predators kept as pets don’t do this. No, these efficient animals go for the quick kill to limit any chance of getting injured by the prey. Yet, somehow, it is damn near impossible to regulate these dogs in any meaningful way to keep people, pets, and livestock safe. Yes, there is BSL but the people who gravitate to pits don’t care about the law. This guy is a perfect example: dog licensing and vaccine requirements have been “the law” for decades and he won’t even do that. It is purely evil to have these torturers amongst us. Dogs bite but pit bulls torture.
You can thank Best Friends for pushing these demon dogs out into our neighborhoods. This well- endowed “ non- profit” Seems to have made it their mission To ignore the facts and brainwash the public. They are responsible and have blood on their hands.
Did anyone else understand this to mean the murder mutt was eating her arms and legs until the cop tased it. Then after stopping momentarily the beast went for the kill and attacked her neck. The cop finally shot the beast becase “The officer; fearing that this bite would result in fatal injuries to the woman, shot the dog once with his handgun in the side.”
I am sick of the same use of force standard being applied to attacking dogs as people. This lady would not have potently fatal neck wounds if the cop had just shot it. It is 100% legal to shoot an attacking dog that has not nesicarliy crossed the line to killing some one. A dog bite, particularly from a pit, is deadly force. If you are attacked with deadly force it is legal (and a very good idea, IMHO), to respond with deadly force. If someone shoots you in the leg and wont drop the gun you can shoot them. It doesn’t matter that the wound you had might not have killed you. A gun is deadly force. If attacked with deadly force you can respond with deadly force without waiting for the attacker to land a potentially deadly shot.
God forbid if this poor woman should die I would say the family should sue the police. However the Supreme Court has ruled that police have no duty to protect you, so that is not an option. As long as departments are afraid of the pit pushers attacking their Facebook pages, all citizens are at risk.
I agree. I hate when cops try to taser the pits or shoot “warning shots”. All they’re doing is allowing the dog to do more damage. Attacking dogs should be shot on sight once they are in a clear spot that the victim won’t be harmed. No taser, no warning. Just end them.
There’s something seriously amiss when so many traffic stops result in a human death by police shooting but there’s a pittie party every time a cop has to shoot a four-legged death machine.
*shakes head*
I wasn’t there, so I can’t say for sure what was the exact sequence of events in this particular situation.
However, as a general guide:
An armed police officer will shoot a large dog that is charging and seems about to attack that officer.
IOW, even the threat of imminent attack, but not actual attack, is viewed by LEOs as justified use of lethal force on a dog, and is not specific to pit bulls, which we know inflict much more severe injuries & are more difficult to stop once they attack, than other dogs.
Given this, would it not make sense that use of lethal force should be the FIRST response of an armed LEO when a dog attack is in progress on a citizen, and the attacking dog is a pit bull? As long as the officer thinks he or she can get the shot off without harming the citizen, of course.
Point being, if prompt use of a firearm is good enough for the LEO for defense of the LEO’s own life and limb, it should be good enough for the LEO for defense of a citizen’s life and limb also.
“Subdue the dog without killing it” when that dog is a pit bull type dog — does not really seem practical as a tactical approach, nor something that should be taught as a matter of training. Game-insane dogs, by definition, will not be subdued UNLESS you kill them.
Thank You, BEST FRIENDS, For all you do to encourage unsuspecting citizens to go to shelters and bring these dogs out into our neighborhoods, so they can maul us When we’re jogging by or raking leaves or walking our dogs. We love living in fear due to your concerted effort’s to lie to the public.
What do you expect from an organization whose motto is Save Them All?
We can’t save them all. Nor should we.
BTW, if you still donate to Best Friends, stop. Donate to DBO instead. Just click on that orange “Donate” box at the top right hand side of this page.
I might add…Do not donate to ASPCA, HSUS, PetSmart, PetCo, or any rescue of any kind that funnels money in part to pit bulls…Donate money to victim reconstruction and rehabilitation…Shriner’s, and Doctors Without Borders, comes to mind, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia…If you wish to give money to cat rescue find one that deals with cats only…I would also suggest wildlife rehab and rescue…
Another senior citizen mangled . These dogs prey on the weak whenever the opportunity arises.
Watch the pit cultists blame the poor woman for having a hole in her own fence instead of the pitbull for eating her in her own yard. Countdown begins now…3, 2, 1….
I have to wonder how many cops are also afraid though, that because pitbulls are a moving target on top of a victim, if they are so unsure of their ability to shoot accurately that they hesitate?
Maybe it’s time for police courses on “how to deal with dangerous dogs” because seriously, the safest method is to garrote the dog but that takes a great deal of physical prowess.
Perhaps they should have catch poles in their cars. If the government can pay tens of thousands per cop for fancy riot gear, and a catchpole is a few hundred–aren’t there a lot more dangerous pitbulls than rioting protesters?
It would never happen but cops absolutely need to be trained on how to shoot dogs. The howls would deafening from pit pushers. Likewise ballistic testing needs to be done on pits. Take pit carcasses after they have been put down and shoot them. Find out what rounds will penetrate the skull, find out is there a place you can shoot and be reasonably sure the bullet wont pass through, that kind of stuff.
Since that would have bad optics the ballistic trials will continue to take place in our neighborhoods as trial and error, at least as long as police are willing to shoot attacking dogs.
A 15-year old *child* was shot to death for “threatening” another girl (we don’t know how clear any of it was, only that she was holding a knife when the officer arrived) then shot to death without the cop even telling her to “put down the knife”.
Yet pitbulls get yelled at, tazed and are given every opportunity to let go AFTER they have already begun to maul another human being.
There’s no world where any of this makes sense.
Pibble mommies just can not grasp that the mode of attack is in itself a breed characteristic and there for identifies the breed .
Crying ” You have no proof it’s a pit bull ” does not wash , the mode of attack is proof .