Miami-Dade Animal Services failed to respond to repeated complaints, neighbors & survivors say
MIAMI GARDENS, Florida; DANVILLE, Virginia––September 2025 had barely begun when at about 7:30 a.m. on September 1, Doreen Richard Broadbelt, 72, walking to work at Walmart in Miami Gardens, Florida, became the first US. dog attack fatality of the month and the 59th of the year.
September 1, 2025 was Labor Day. Law offices were closed for the holiday. But if survivors of Doreen Richard Broadbelt have not already left messages seeking a top-drawer personal injury lawyer, September 2, 2025 might be a good time to start making calls.
King County, Washington on August 28, 2025 agreed to pay a record $21.5 million to settle claims by pit bull attack victim Gyongyi Bazso Maas, 38, mostly echoed by the circumstances of the attack on Doreen Richard Broadbelt.
King County eventually admitted having done next to nothing in response to more than 75 complaints from Maas and multiple neighbors about free-roaming pit bulls in the neighborhood.
(See $21.5 million settlement from negligent county to jogger mauled by pit bull.)
Attacks near schools
In either case the dogs were in proximity to a school: Thomas Jefferson High School in Auburn, King County, and Norwood Middle School in Miami Gardens.
But even the risk to students was apparently insufficient to motivate either King County Regional Animal Care Services or Miami-Dade County Animal Services to move their respective hindquarters in response to calls about packs of aggressive dogs at large.
The major difference between the Maas case and that of Doreen Richard Broadbelt is simply that Maas survived, though with severe injuries that she will feel for the rest of her life.
(Facebook photo)
“She talked about it every day.”
Doreen Richard Broadbelt’s family “was seen heartbroken and crying hysterically as they arrived at the spot where their loved one was killed,” reported Faith Graham, Robbin Simmons, Kevin Boulandier, and Sebastian Cuervo for WSVN television news in Miami.
“I don’t have anyone else. She was the only person I had,” the victim’s daughter Lateisha Wilkinson told them.
Wilkinson, a FedEx employee, explained to at least seven reporters that her mother had often warned about the free-roaming dogs, believed to be pit bulls or pit mixes, who eventually killed her.
“She talked about it every day,” emphasized Wilkinson. “She talked about it, and they [Miami-Dade Animal Services] did nothing about it.”
Dogs “would taunt her every morning”
The neighborhood dogs “would taunt her every morning,” summarized the WSVN team.
“They were always attacking her. I even got her a stick,” Wilkinson said.
“She told me about these dogs, but I just couldn’t get here in time,” a man accompanying Wilkinson told WSVN.
“Neighbors say the area is known for dangerous dogs. A woman seen walking her dog on Monday told 7News she carries a metal bat on each walk to protect herself and her dog,” the WSVN team added.
After Doreen Richard Broadbelt was killed, reported Brett Knese, Samiar Nefzi, and Andrea Torres for WPLG television news in Miami, Miami-Dade county Animal Services personnel “were going door to door swabbing dogs to collect DNA in an effort to identify the culprits.”
But why did it take a death to get Miami-Dade Animal Services to make the effort?
(Facebook collage)
Special needs child killed in Virginia
The death of Doreen Richard Broadbelt came four days after eight-year-old Cameron Lamar Reynolds, a special needs child in Danville, Virginia, was fatally mauled by a four-year-old pit bull his family had reportedly raised from puppyhood.
Video clips posted earlier to Facebook showed the victim playing with at least two pit bulls and a third dog believed to be a Chihuahua in what appeared to be the family home.
A Danville Police Department media release explained that on August 26, 2025, “just after 8:00 p.m.,” responding officers found Cameron Lamar Reynolds “unresponsive with apparent signs of trauma to his neck consistent with an animal bite.
“At the time of the attack, the 8-year-old was in the care of his teenage sister. According to the family, the dog was not previously known to be aggressive,” the Danville Police Department statement concluded.
“We will not put the dog up for adoption”
The pit bull who killed Cameron Lamar Reynolds was quarantined at the Danville Area Humane Society for ten days for observation of any signs of rabies, as required by Virginia law.
Explained Danville Area Humane Society executive director Paulette Dean, “During those ten days, if the dog becomes sick, we will contact the Health Department for guidance. Also, if at any time we feel that our staff members’ safety is at significant risk, we will contact the Health Department. In either of those cases, the Health Department may order us to euthanize the dog, and the body will be tested for rabies.
“At the end of the ten days, if neither of those scenarios have happened, the Health Department will release the dog from quarantine.
“We will not put the dog up for adoption, nor will we transfer him to any group or sanctuary for rehabilitation. We will euthanize him,” Dean pledged.
“This will anger some people. But, the dog killed a child. A helpless child. His family and friends, as well as the police department and other first responders, will bear emotional scars from what they saw.
“It is a tragedy from first sentence to last sentence.”
Landmark pit bull fatalities
Both the state of Virginia and Miami-Dade County, Florida, have been scene of landmark pit bull fatalities, especially in recent years.
Virginia, human population 8.8 million, has had nine fatal dog attacks, listed at the end of this article.
Miami-Dade County, population 2.8 million, has had eight.
Doretta Zinke
Attempts to ban pit bulls from Miami-Dade County, including the city of Miami, began in 1945, after Doretta Zinke, 39, was killed during an evening walk by nine pit bulls kept by Joe Munn, 43, of Hialeah.
Munn eventually served one year of a five-year prison sentence for manslaughter.
Paroled, Munn acquired more pit bulls. Two of them in 1955 mauled Harry Smalley, 73, after attacking Smalley’s dog.
The long-sought Miami-Dade pit bull ban finally took effect in 1989, after seven-year-old Melissa Moreira underwent facial surgery to repair severe damage from an unprovoked attack by a neighbor’s pit bull.
Miami-Dade Animal Services failed to enforce the ban
Though continuously under attack by pit bull advocates, the Miami-Dade pit bull ban was upheld by county voters by a 63% to 37% margin in August 2012.
Meanwhile, ignoring the letter of the 1989 bylaw, Miami-Dade Animal Services chief of shelter operations and enforcement Kathleen Labrada consistently failed to enforce the county pit bull ban as written.
Again and again Labrada redefined pit bulls as designated in the bylaw, instead calling them “American bulldogs,” to avoid having to impound and euthanize them.
Only one animal control director, in the U.S. or the world, has had more dog attack fatalities on his/her watch than Labrada’s seven: Mark Kumpf, who had nine, five while heading Montgomery County Animal Services in Dayton, Ohio, and four more while later heading Detroit Animal Care & Control in Detroit, Michigan.
The Miami-Dade body count since 2014
Javon Dade Jr., age four, was killed by his father’s pit bull on August 13, 2014.
Carmen Reigada, 91, was killed on September 22, 2015 by a household pack including a pit bull, a Rhodesian ridgeback, and a Labrador mix.
Nyjah Espinosa was killed by her father’s pit bull on December 20, 2015, days short of her second birthday.
Nancy Mira, 67, of Miami, succumbed on March 17, 2017, a month after her son’s pit bull, described as an “American bulldog,” attacked her during an altercation between herself and her son.
Moise Maddox, 87, was attacked by a Presa Canario on December 31, 2018 in Miami Gardens. Both of his legs were amputated due to the extent of his injuries, and his left arm was scheduled to be amputated due to a spreading infection, when he died from a heart attack on January 20, 2019, attributed by the Miami-Dade Medical Examiner’s Office to “complications of canine mauling.”
Carolyn Varanese, 84, of Margate, was killed on August 31, 2020 by a pit bull released by Miami-Dade Animal Services to Mastiff Rescue of Florida before being rehomed to the victim’s son, Joseph Varanese, 57.
Josefa Suarez, 73, of Homestead, Florida, also in Miami-Dade County, was killed on September 28, 2021 by a pit bull adopted from Miami-Dade Animal Services on January 14, 2019, by a relative, identified as L. Ramirez. Josefa Suarez’s death, like the deaths of Mira and Maddox, went unreported by mass media.
Florida House Bill 941, pushed by Labrada among others, in 2023 repealed the Miami-Dade County pit bull ban.
Alexander Andres Torres, 29, of Miami, on or about December 18, 2023 became the first fatality attributable to the ban repeal.
(See Repeal of Miami-Dade pit bull ban brings 1st fatality in only 78 days.)
The Virginia body count since 2014
Cindy White, 52, 4-12-2024, Portsmouth, VA. Killed by own three pit bulls.
Evangeline Brooks, 88, 11-7-2022, Richmond, VA. Killed by free-roaming pit bull.
[See Tyson executive bust upstages three dog attack fatalities in a week.]
Olivia Grace Floyd, 7, 1-29-2022, Waynesboro, VA.
[See Rottweiler killing of seven-year-old brings murder charges in Virginia.]
Demi Marie Witherspoon, 2, Portsmouth, VA, 3-9-2020; family pit bull. Victim also known as Demi Herod Killebrew.
(See With all eyes on COVID-19, Missouri moves to undo pit bull bans.)
Michelle Ocean Ray Carr, 2 months, Hampton, VA, 10-26-2020. Dog was identified as a “German shepherd mix.”
Morgan Crayton, 31, Hampton, VA, 9-29-2019. (Killed by own pit bull raised from pup.)
Aurora Little, 8 days old, Big Stone Gap, VA – 3-7-2018. (Killed by wolf hybrid.)
Margaret M. Colvin, 90, was killed on June 1, 2017 at her home in Virginia Beach, Virginia, by a pit bull named Blue with undisclosed previous attack history in both New York City and locally. Margaret M. Colvin’s daughter Linda Patterson had adopted Blue from Forever Home Rescue & Rehabilitation just six hours earlier.
(See How multi-state effort to save the pit bull Blue led to Code Blue for Margaret Colvin.)
(Daniel Leventhal photo)
Bethany Lynn Stephens, 22, a pit bull advocate, was on December 14, 2017 killed by her own two pit bulls while walking them in a wooded area near her home in Goochland, Virginia.
(See Virginia pit bull fancier, 22, sets new record for pit bull deaths in one year.)
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Rescue volunteer here as well as a medical professional.
Did you ever stop to think that perhaps the woman had already a previous medical history-potentially causing her a heart attack or other type of episode? I have no doubt the autopsy may show “complications of a canine attack” but the autopsy will also show previous heart issues, kidney issues, etc etc.
Regardless, I think an article or 50 should be written about MDAS and what they are not doing to prevent dangerous animals on the street. I am not negating that the dogs were dangerous. I am asking for your future reports be a little more accurate and perhaps wait until the reports are finalized before going wax poetic on how dangerous pit bulls are.
Also-who did the DNA test on the dogs? That would be the way to determine if they are pitties rather than a mix. Pit bulls get a bad wrap and are not the only canines that are deemed dangerous. Do the research.
ANIMALS 24-7 editors here, with combined experience of 54 years of investigative reporting about dog attacks, plus experience as Miami Beach police officer and animal control officer in multiple Florida jurisdictions.
We have done the research on more than 14,000 fatal and disfiguring dog attacks in the U.S. and Canada, including more than 10,000 pit bull attacks resulting in more than 800 of slightly more than 1,200 total dog attack fatalities, and have researched many hundreds more dog attacks in other nations, including in India, the United Kingdom, and South Africa.
Among non-rabid fatal dog attacks, the ratio of pit bull attacks to all others combined is consistently close to 70% in all nations where data is available, on all continents.
(See Pit bull body count (& other breeds too)
We note that according to her LinkedIn account, Christina Piersol is “Manager, Donor & Client Services” at the University of Miami Brain Endowment Bank. To what extent this qualities as being a “medical professional,” we leave to readers’ judgement.
Regardless of any person’s medical history, that person should be able to walk, jog, bicycle, wheelchair, or turn cartwheels if he/she so desires, to a Walmart or past a school or in any other public place, without being menaced by dogs, including dogs rushing up in allegedly “friendly” greeting which can look like an attack or knock the person down.
As it happens, though, ANIMALS 24-7 does have data on the relative frequency of fatal dog attacks resulting from bites and resulting from proximate causes, including heart attacks, strokes, infections, and dodging a dog attack into oncoming traffic.
Proximate cause deaths, as of 35 years of data tracking, were in 2017 about 6% of all dog-related deaths. Of those deaths, the dog(s) involved in 57% were pit bulls.
(See Pit bulls & “proximate cause” deaths.)
And the leadership yells and screams about keeping “Americans” safe.
Sharing with gratitude, and continuing despair.
Just read your powerful article on pit bull killings and its surrounding history of lack of enforcement of pit bull bans as well as removal of bans.
With the historical facts listed, I am wondering what the reasons might be––conscious and unconscious––that might feed into the resistance of bans, non-enforcement of existing bans, or breed specific laws on spaying and neutering.
Of course, one reason might be that there are many pit bulls who do not kill and people have close relationships with these pets. But still, there is this history–really so awful––of people getting hurt and killed. So there is this massive denial that gets triggered whenever bans or breed specific spay/neuter bills and laws are introduced or exist.
So I am thinking it might be an interesting article to explore what drives the behavior of resistance to recognizing this reality. My two cents,,,
Beth’s perspective: “People always believe it can’t or won’t happen to them.”
Merritt’s: “Never attribute to malice what may be attributed to stupidity.”
I compete in canine performance sports with my dogs. I can’t tell you how many fellow competitors, their dogs, my dogs, and other competitors have been attacked or ambushed by ‘pets’ of all breeds. We compare notes now on the best way to protect ourselves and our dogs when simply out in public minding our own business. Some of us have been permanently disfigured. If a dog runs up to me and the owner say he only wants to say hi my response is call that dog back now or they will not come back to you. We are sick of the inability of people to be responsible owners.
I find the response by Miami-Dade Animal Services to be a joke. Going door to door to obtain DNA samples. Due to the County’s “Save Charlie Act” unless a dog is extremely aggressive or is so severely injured, the dog cannot be euthanized. Due to this, Animal Services had stopped responding to request from the community with regard to stray dogs. It takes law enforcement to be on the scene in order for them to respond. Anyone interested can make a public records request requesting the “stray dog at large” service requests and see how many were responded to. I understand the publics’ wish to save every animal, but it comes at the expense of the public. There needs to be a balance.