Posted on November 5, 2017 by Colleen Lynn

2017 Dog Bite Fatality: Newborn Mauled to Death by Family Dog in Cleveland, Ohio

The Cleveland home where 2-week old Sophia Booth died after suffering a dog bite.

Baby Identified
UPDATE 11/05/17: Cleveland Police stated in a news release the attacking dog was a 4-year old German shepherd. They also identified the 2-week old newborn. "The dog escaped from the kitchen area where he was fenced in, and bit the baby girl who was in a bedroom on the first floor. The baby, who has been identified a 2-week old Sophia Booth, was taken to MetroHealth Medical Center where she died," reports Cleveland 19 news. The family shepherd was taken into custody.

The attacked happened at 6:53 pm on Carrington Avenue, Cleveland police spokesman Det. Reginald Lanton said. Police responded to a report of child who suffered head trauma from being bitten by a dog, Lanton said. The case will be presented to the Cuyahoga County Prosecutors Office. Police provided no information about the history of the dog -- if the dog had a documented history of aggression or not. The extent of the baby's head trauma injuries is also unknown.

In 2014, a pit bull jumped over a "baby gate" in a Dayton home and fatally attacked a 7-month old child under the care of Kimiko Hardy. Leading up to the baby's death, the pit bull had attacked a mailman and a neighborhood dog. After the dog incident, Hardy attended required classes on "responsible dog ownership." Yet, she still failed to properly secure her dog in the presence of a baby. A jury later found her guilty of six felonies. Hardy was sentenced to three years in jail.

11/04/17: Dog Bite Kills Baby
Cleveland, OH - A 2-week old baby is dead after being bitten by a family dog Friday night. The attack occurred at 6:53 pm at 13304 Carrington Avenue in the Puritas-Longmead neighborhood, according to Cleveland Police. The baby was transported to MetroHealth Medical Center, where it died just before 9 pm, according to police. Cleveland Homicide detectives are investigating the baby's mauling death. Police authorities have not yet released the gender of the newborn.

Video from News 5 Cleveland describes the dog as a German shepherd. A "warning" guard dog sign was seen on the home's front window.

This dog was known to be aggressive. Neighbors described the dog as "vicious and aggressive" toward people and other dogs that would walk by the home. "It was like a junkyard dog," said neighbor Tommy Varga. "Ready to attack -- constantly." Varga said he never walked in front of the house; he walked across the street because of the dog. It's unclear if any neighbors ever reported this dog to animal control authorities. It's unclear why this animal was anywhere near an infant.

Ohio's Fatal Dog Attacks

So far in 2017, Ohio (population 11.61 million) leads all states with 4 fatal dog maulings versus Texas (population 27.86 million) and Georgia (population 10.31 million) each with 3 dog bite deaths. The other alarming fact about this baby's death is that nearly one third (29%) of all determined fatal dog attack victims so far this year have been babies 8-months old or younger. The state of Ohio is disproportionately responsible for these newborn dog bite deaths as well.

In September, about 70 miles south of Cleveland, Knox County Prosecutor Chip McConville said that no charges would be filed after a father woke up to his newborn so mutilated by a family pit bull that he did not even attempt CPR. After searching the father's Pike Township home, police found dozens of empty beer cans, drug paraphernalia and a back room littered with "so much urine and feces in it that I could not breathe due to the odor," an investigator stated at the time.

Baseline reporting requirements:
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.

Posted on November 2, 2017 by Colleen Lynn

Family Files Lawsuit After Toledo Woman Dies of Injuries After Being Knocked to the Ground by a Pit Bull

The estate of Shirley Wright is suing those believed to be the keepers of the dogs.

Lawsuit Filing
Toledo, OH - Last Wednesday, the family of a Toledo woman who died a month after she was badly injured by a dog filed a civil complaint in Lucas County Court of Common Pleas. Rebecca Best, the executrix of the estate of Shirley Wright, alleges in the complaint that Susanne Barwiler is the owner of the home where defendants Anthony Foust and Holly Foust reside, located on Ogden Avenue in Toledo, and that Barwiler herself resides in the home for at least part of the year.

"Defendants, Susanne Barwiler, Anthony Foust and Holly Foust, are, upon information and belief, were owners/keepers/harborers of a vicious dog(s)," states the complaint. The Lucas County Coroner ruled in August that Shirley Wright, 89, died June 8 due to "gastrointestinal hemorrhage, deceased was knocked down by neighbor’s dog." The manner of death was ruled accidental. This type of injury resulting in death falls under "struck by dog," not death due to dog bite injuries.

"On or about May 6, 2017 at approximately 5:00 pm, Shirley Wright was doing yard work on her property, which was located adjacent to the defendant's property at 626 Ogden Ave., Toledo, OH 43609. Defendant, Anthony Foust, was sitting on his front porch with his two pit-bull dogs. As Ms. Wright was walking towards the driveway, one of the defendant's dogs charged at her, jumping up on her left side, biting her, mauling her and causing her to fall to the concrete.
As a direct consequence of the attack, Shirley Wright, suffered severe and painful injuries, the complications of which directly resulted in her death. Her injuries included but are not limited to right hand swelling with fractured middle finger; a fracture of the right shoulder; and a fracture of the right hip."

Plaintiff Rebecca Best is seeking an amount "greatly in excess of twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000.00) per defendant," states the lawsuit, "as well as for all costs of this action, any and all applicable interests, plaintiff's reasonable attorney fees, as well as any and all other such relief as this Honorable Court deems appropriate, just, and equitable." The lawsuit filing, which demands a jury trial, was assigned to Judge Linda J. Jennings and will be heard at a date in the future.

CDC Wonder Database

DogsBite.org does not include "struck by dog" deaths in our dog bite fatality statistics or cases involving non-bite or minor bite injury. However, we do track them when we learn about them. The way that we check our statistics every few years to ensure we are not underreporting is through CDC Wonder Search, which includes the combined number of individuals killed after being "bitten or struck by a dog" (Code W54). CDC Wonder results do not separate out the two scenarios.1

Thus, CDC Wonder results should always be slightly higher than ours, as we exclude "struck by dog" and non-bite injury deaths. - DogsBite.org

Other cases we have written about previously that could qualify as "struck by dog" deaths include a 33-year old letter carrier who died after a rottweiler ambushed him, causing him to fall and suffer a fatal head injury. The attack occurred in 2010 in Oceanside, California. In 2009, Plainfield Animal Control Officer Theresa Foss was hospitalized with a head injury after being knocked to the ground by an aggressive pit bull on September 29. She died while hospitalized on October 8.

One of the Foust's Pit Bulls

A family member posted one of their pit bulls to Facebook on January 24, 2017. The dog is seen sitting on the porch of their home on Ogden Avenue. Wright was attacked by one of the pit bulls just over three months later. The lawsuit states the defendants "were negligent by failing to keep and maintain reasonable control of their dog(s) while unconfined and/or untethered, thereby allowing them to roam free with the potential to cause physical bodily harm to another person."

1Causes of death are classified in accordance with the International Classification of Disease. The National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) began using ICD-10 (W54) to classify underlying cause-of-death in 1999. For classifying nonfatal conditions, the use of ICD-10 went into final effect 10/1/2015 for all U.S. hospital billing.

Posted on October 28, 2017 by Colleen Lynn

2017 Dog Bite Fatality: Pit Bulls Kill 7-Year Old Boy in Lowell, Massachusetts

Police gather outside scene where two pit bulls killed 7-year old Javien Candelario.1

Victim Identified
UPDATE 10/27/17: The 7-year old boy has been identified as Javien Candelario. On October 21, he was brutally killed by two pit bulls housed behind a dilapidated gate between 56 and 58 Clare Street. Witnesses said about 15 people saw the horrific mauling. Two of them included Javien's mother and his older brother. No one knew how to save him from the jaws of the pit bulls. Five police officers that arrived too late to save Javien are also traumatized and undergoing counseling.

Lowell city councilor Rodney Elliott, who recently spoke about the attack on Nightside with Dan Rea, said the details about how the attack started remain sketchy. Javien went to pat the dogs, who were in the fenced yard. "The dogs pulled him over the fence," Elliott said. Earlier, witnesses gave different accounts of how Javien entered the yard. One claimed "he jumped the fence" and another echoed the words Elliot did, "The dog grabbed him and pulled him over the fence."

Elliott sponsored the city's pit bull ordinance that was enacted in 2011. It was nullified one year later after Massachusetts' legislators enacted a state preemption law barring cities and towns from adopting breed-specific laws. “I think if people knew the gruesome details, they might not be as quick to judge the idea of placing more restrictions on owning pit bulls," Elliott said Friday. There will be a funeral mass on Saturday at St. Michaels for Javien. He will be buried in a donated plot.

10/23/17: 15 People Witnessed Attack
New details about the boy's death were revealed over the weekend. Resident David Swiniarski, 22-years old, was one of about 15 people who witnessed the horrific dog mauling. On Saturday night, two pit bulls fatally attacked a 7-year old boy after he entered into a fenced-in area between 56 and 58 Clare Street. When Swiniarski and his roommate heard screaming, the pair ran down the street to a crowd of people standing in front of a driveway blocked by a chain-link gate.

"Two 100, 120-pound pit bulls just getting his neck, his legs ... Everyone was screaming, but no one knew what to do." - David Swiniarski

Neighbors described the pit bulls as large and territorial, one brown and one gray. No photos have been released of the dogs. Some neighbors wondered how the boy could have gotten over the dilapidated 4.5-foot fence. Answer: instantly. Other reports indicate the victim's older brother also witnessed the horrible attack. "The older boy, on the sidewalk, he said, 'I couldn't save my brother,'" recalled a 52-year old female neighbor, who moved in as recently as two weeks ago.

WHDH released parts of the 911 calls. "A child’s being attacked by some sort of animal," the operator told police. "Apparently the dog will not let go of the child." Also confirmed in the calls is that police fired on one of the pit bulls. "Lowell, shots fired, the dog is hit, it’s still coming at me," the officer told the operator. "Lowell, the dog just jumped over the fence," he added. Presumably that means after being shot, the pit bull was still able to scale the fence and continue fleeing.

Monday night, the Lowell Sun cleared up details about this injured, at large pit bull. Despite being shot, the pit bull ventured over a mile away before being killed in a hail of police gunfire. Earlier, we pointed out that an employee at UMass Lowell received a text alert at 6:43 pm about the pit bull attack. At 8:17 pm he received another text stating the dog was found. That is about 1.5 hours. We also noted that another commenter stated in response, "That explains the helicopters."

Finally, there are different accounts about whether the boy jumped the fence or if the dogs pulled him inside. Neighbor Nilda Garcia alleges a group of kids were playing with a ball, when the ball went through the fence. "He jumped the fence and the dog grabbed him and killed him," she said. Neighbor Bill Brettancourt disagreed. "The boy had leaned over the fence like this [gesture]. The dog grabbed him and pulled him over the fence. The boy did not go in there on his own," he said.

10/22/17: Boy Mauled to Death
Lowell, MA - A 7-year old boy is dead after being mauled to death by two pit bulls in the Acre section of Lowell Saturday evening. A preliminary investigation reveals the unidentified boy entered into a fenced-in area on Clare Street that housed the pit bulls, according to a press release from the Middlesex District Attorney's Office. Crime scene tape and police vehicles were seen outside homes at 56 and 58 Clare Street after the dog attack, reports the Lowell Sun.

Police received a call about the attack about 6 pm. They arrived on scene and discovered the unidentified child deceased. After the attack, one of the pit bulls escaped the fenced-in area. The dog was subsequently located and euthanized. Lowell Animal Control took the other pit bull into custody, according to the release. The investigation remains ongoing by the Middlesex District Attorney's Office, the Lowell Police Department and the Massachusetts State Police.

NBC Boston interviewed Angel Argueta, who lives nearby. "I heard sirens, he said. "Then I heard something that appeared to be gunshots. That's when I came out here. The neighbors told me that two dogs had devoured a kid. I heard the owner came out and was trying to take the dogs off. They wouldn't listen. I asked if the kid was okay. They said, no, he didn't make it." Earlier, Argueta had seen the boy's mother, who he described as "trying to wake up from this nightmare."

CBS Boston was also live on scene after the attack. One neighbor, who witnessed part of the mauling, said he came outside after he heard the boy's mother screaming, "Dogs have my kid! Dogs have my kid!" The lady was hitting the dogs with a stick, he said. "The dogs would not let go of the kid; dragging him around like a ragdoll." A female neighbor, who said she always sees kids playing outside in the neighborhood, described the two pit bulls as "kinda scary and rough."

Local commenters on the WHDH Facebook thread added more details, including one who works at the university. James Donahue wrote, "I go to and work at UMass Lowell. At 6:43 PM we all got text alerts that there was a pit bull attack, then at 8:17 PM that the dog was found and euthanized. This is beyond tragic." Matty Bee wrote, "That explains the helicopters." Obviously, police were very concerned about the at large pit bull and apparently used helicopters to help locate it.

Massachusetts Background

Fatal dog maulings in Massachusetts are very rare. Our 12-year data set from 2005 though 2016 only has one other fatality, the death of 7-year old Conner Lourens in 2006. Back in 2012, humane organizations pushed through a comprehensive animal welfare bill. Deliberately buried in it was a preemption clause prohibiting jurisdictions from adopting or enforcing breed-specific laws. At that time, Lowell, Boston and several other Massachusetts cities lost their pit bull ordinances.

The Lowell pit bull ordinance was based on the City of Boston's 2004 ordinance, the Responsible Pit Bull Ownership ordinance. Lowell's ordinance required all pit bull owners to register their dogs, spay and neuter their dogs, provide proof their landlord, lessor or property owner had knowledge of the dog(s), provide "secure temporary enclosure" when transporting their animals, limited ownership to two per single household, required signage and several other regulatory conditions.

View the DogsBite.org Google State Map: Massachusetts Fatal Pit Bull Attacks.

1Initial news reports spelled the boy's name as, Javian Candolario.

Posted on October 21, 2017 by Colleen Lynn

City Uses Unique Approach to Show Dog Can't be Rehabbed

One of two videos shown to courtroom demonstrating this pit bull's dog aggression.

City Officials Show Videos
Victoria, Canada - In an uncommon, but effective demonstration, the City of Victoria used videos of a decoy dog to show a courtroom the level of dog aggression in a pit bull, named Bentley. On April 21, as 72-year old Peter McPherson was walking his Maltese-cross named Cassie, Bentley viciously attacked his dog. “I’ve never seen a dog with a bigger mouth,” McPherson testified. “This dog went for the throat.” The pit bull inflicted deep laceration wounds and crushed Cassie's spine.

McPherson also testified how he and other adults tried to save Cassie. "I was holding the dog and they were pulling back on the other dog. Several people were actually punching it on the nose and it showed no sign of release," McPherson said, emphasizing the tenacity of the breed. Pit bulls were selectively bred to continue attacking until death -- a quality known as "gameness" by dog fighters -- which is why lethal intervention is often necessary to stop a relentless pit bull attack.

Featured in the Times Colonist story is one of the videos shown to the courtroom. Bentley sails into a room where Lisbeth Plant, an animal aggression expert, is standing with her decoy Jack Russell terrier. Bentley immediately rushes the decoy dog and bites him on the neck. What follows is equally as disturbing as the pit bull heavily pins the decoy dog down, all the while wagging his tail. "If that had been a live dog, that dog would be dead," Plant testified. "Those were kill bites."

In another video not shown, and filmed just four minutes later, the pit bull attacks a decoy black lab, he "bites it and shakes it until its spine is broken," reports the Colonist. Plant testified that Bentley's level of aggression is 10 out of 10. The entire court proceeding was required because Bentley's owner, Ryan Mulligan, refused to surrender his dangerous pit bull after if killed Cassie. His dog had also attacked two other dogs before fatally injuring Cassie, according to Mulligan.

"[Bentley] almost instantly rises to the attack to the point of injury, if not death. How can such an animal be reintroduced to the community to live among adults, children and other domestic animals?” asked Judge Lisa Mrozinski. This dog would have to be under "constant" control, she continued, harnessed, muzzled with no way of escaping from a home in cases where a child or pet dog passes by. Mrozinski is correct. No neighborhood can withstand a dog-aggressive pit bull.

Where The Roads Diverge

The City of Victoria animal control officers and Judge Mrozinski absolutely made the appropriate call about this dangerous pit bull. This case stands out to us, because it happens so infrequently today. At the request of the dangerous dog's owner, a judge will often order the dog shipped out-of-state to be "rehabilitated." Frankly, our own city and county shelters openly adopt out animal-aggressive dogs by simply stating on the adoption card, "No dogs or cats for this bundle of joy!"

In July, we watched another disturbing decoy dog video showing instant pit bull dog aggression executing kill bites. That pit bull, named Buster, was destined for euthanasia by Miami-Dade Animal Services (MDAS), but was selected for the county corrections and rehabilitation program, where inmates develop skills in dog training. Buster flunked out after biting a worker and was returned to MDAS as a death row dog. Only a "rescue" was eligible to pull the dog, and one did.

Larues Legacy Bulldog Rescue pulled the dog and on July 1 announced that Buster "will be receiving his @applauseyourpaws evaluation on Monday!" Buster had already bitten a man and was known to be highly dog aggressive. Larues openly states, "must be heavily guarded of other dogs, he shows much signs of aggression." Buster was so aggressive his "Foster Mom" could only walk him at 3:00 am. During his evaluation that Monday, Applause used a decoy husky dog.1

On July 9, Casey Lomonaco commented on a Facebook post after seeing this alarming video (which was later removed), "This dog is a time bomb," she wrote. "Just because you CAN adopt a dog out doesn't mean you SHOULD. What kind of adopter is prepared to safely manage this dog? Would you want it living on the other side of the fence from your dog? Sending dogs like this into communities where other pets (and potentially people) will be put at risk is not ethical," she wrote.

Recall Miami-Dade Animal Services allowed this dog to be pulled instead of humanely euthanized.2 What would Judge Mrozinski say to that?

Even pit bull expert Diane Jessup got in on the action, commenting, "Lol!!!! I'm not sure why I find this so humorous, but I do. Bulldog being a bulldog." Jessup refers to all pit bulls as bulldogs, just like old-timer dogmen do. Her point is the pit bull was only doing what it was selectively bred to do, attack and kill other dogs. Possibly Jessup found it humorous that "rescue angels," including Larues, falsely presumed that "training" of "any kind" could remove this inherent dog aggression.

The Wise Provincial Court Judge

Judge Mrozinski not only laid out the reasons why Bentley was unsafe in any neighborhood, she considered the life of the dog too. His prognosis for rehabilitation is poor, said Mrozinski after watching the pit bull attack the decoy dogs. "Even if he were placed in a home, his life would be so restricted it would be borderline cruel," reports the Colonist. Mrozinski granted the order to put the animal down within 14 days. The dog's owner, Mulligan, of course plans to appeal the order.

What became of Buster, the dog-aggressive pit bull with a bite record? After a month, his Foster Mom shipped him off to the Rainbow Bridge.

To say that we are now operating in an upside down world, where tax funded shelters like MDAS transfer dangerous, aggressive animals like Buster out to "rescuers" -- most with zero care, thought or application of public safety -- so that these dogs can end up on the other side of your fence, would be an understatement. It's just one more nail in the coffin regarding the public's eroding trust in city and county shelters. Sadly, there just aren't enough Judge Mrozinskis left.

It is difficult to follow the timing on Instagram, but it appears Buster's Foster Mom put him down on July 28 after he attacked her a week earlier and tried to attack two big dogs on July 27. The publish date on the decoy dog video was July 3. So Buster lasted about 25 days in her care.

1We believe the video of Buster attacking the decoy husky dog was first published by Applause Your Paws on their Instagram page. On July 4, it was re-posted by Sophie Gamand (also known as "flowerpot head"), who later removed her post, which is why Lomonaco's post no longer contains the video. We captured the video on July 11. While writing this post, we could no longer find the decoy dog video on Applause Your Paws social media pages.
2As if Miami-Dade County Animal Services could not sink further into a Florida swamp, Buster was a legal dog in a county that has a longstanding pit bull ban. This dangerous dog-aggressive dog was not even declared a pit bull by MDAS. We can't count the number of times we have written about the Interchangeable Breed Labels by MDAS. This is true even after a multiple fatal attacks on humans. Pit bulls are routinely labeled "American bulldog-mixes."

DogsBite blog ::

2017 Dog Bite Fatality: Newborn Mauled to Death by Family Dog in Cleveland, Ohio

Family Files Lawsuit After Toledo Woman Dies of Injuries After Being Knocked to the Ground by a Pit Bull

2017 Dog Bite Fatality: Pit Bulls Kill 7-Year Old Boy in Lowell, Massachusetts

Videos of Pit Bull Attacking Decoy Dogs Shown to Courtroom; Judge Orders the Dog-Aggressive Pit Bull Put Down

City Uses Unique Approach to Show Dog Can't be Rehabbed