The following is an account of the dog attack that occurred in the Devongate subdivision on the afternoon of January 31, 2014. On the afternoon of Friday, January 31, 2014, in the 4pm hour, Barbara and Elizabeth Luke (sisters) were walking their dog, Wendy in the Devongate community. The women and their dog were walking on the path behind the community park that leads to the elementary school. As they approached the wooded area by the school, they noticed a black dog’s head poking out of the fence that surrounds the one story home located at the end of the cul-de-sac. The fence had a hole in it; it appeared that one of the slats was broken and/or missing. Barbara said to Elizabeth “this doesn’t look good”, and the women prepared to turn back, away from the dog. At that moment, the black dog broke out of the fence and ran towards the women and their dog. The black pit bull was followed by a brown pit bull, and both animals were snarling and barking at the women and Wendy. Barbara started to swing the end of Wendy’s leash at the pit bulls—it head a hard plastic dog “bone” attached to it, and Barbara was using it as a weapon and a deterrent. The pit bulls surrounded the women and their dog. The black pit then lunged at Wendy and bit her on the side. Fortunately, Wendy was wearing a dog coat, which protected her from being injured. Barbara beat the black dog on the head with the plastic bone. Then the black dog lunged at Barbara and bit her on the right leg just above her ankle. When Barbara began screaming, Elizabeth ran towards the cul-de-sac, screaming for help. The black dog ran after Elizabeth and Barbara then continued to fend off the brown dog. Elizabeth ran to a house—6609 Devongate—and beat on the door. No one was home so Elizabeth stayed on the porch and did not move, as the two pit bulls by this time were running through the cul-de-sac towards their home. Barbara and Wendy managed to run to an SUV that was parked in the cul-de-sac, and the two people inside pulled them into the vehicle. Elizabeth used her cell phone to call 911 and frantically told the operator what was happening. Then Elizabeth called Michael Hager, her ex husband a resident of her home at 4231 Devonbridge Lane, and he immediately drove to the cul-de-sac to assist. Elizabeth, Barbara and Wendy climbed into Hager’s SUV, while the two bystanders remained at the scene as well and said they had witnessed the entire attack. Approximately 20 minutes went by and Elizabeth called 911 again, inquiring where the police were. She was told by the operator that a cruiser and Animal Control had been dispatched and both were on their way. Moments later, the cruiser arrived at the scene. A young African American male and a Caucasian female were the two officers at the scene and both approached the women, inquiring as to what had occurred. Meanwhile the two pit bulls continued to roam the neighborhood, jumping on Hager’s SUV, barking at Wendy in the back. The two dogs were very agitated and continued to frighten everyone at the scene. The officers were told of the situation and the male officer took out his pepper spray and began to approach the brown dog. Neither pit bull at his point attacked but everyone continued to act with caution. Hager then drove Barbara, Elizabeth and Wendy back to their residence to await Animal Control. After the ACO’s had gone to the scene of the attack, they then came to the Luke residence to get a statement from both women. Both women were told that the owner of the dogs had come home, captured the animals and put then into the garage. Barbara told the ACO’s—an Asian male and a Caucasian male—that she had been bitten and wanted to press charges. The ACO’s informed the women that the patrol officers determined the dogs were “animal aggressive” only, which both women disputed since Barbara had been bitten. Barbara then requested a full investigation, and the ACO’s took down the women’s statements. The Caucasian ACO then remarked that perhaps the women should “avoid the area where aggressive dogs live”. The Asian officer merely took information and informed the women that because Barbara had been bitten, the black dog would be taken into custody and quarantined for 10 days while it was determined whether or not he was rabid. Barbara was then informed that any medical treatment or rabies vaccinations she may require would be at her own expense, and that any charges pressed would be in civil court between she and the dogs’ owner. Both women insisted on an investigation and asked that documentation of the case be made available to them. Then the ACO’s left the Luke residence and drove back down to the scene of the attack, presumably to pick up the black dog. Several minutes later, they were seen leaving the Devongate community in their ACO van. It is unclear to the Luke sisters if the black dog was indeed taken into quarantine.
Posted on: Sat, 01 Feb 2014 19:18:40 +0000
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