Pit bull had already bitten cop; cops are injured by pit bulls 14.5 times more often now than pre-Michael Vick LOS ANGELES, Calif.; ARLINGTON, Texas––The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on September 17, 2019 agreed to pay $3 million to the family of Armando Garcia, 17, killed by an accidental ricochet on June […]
Shelters make mega-payouts to pit bull victims: what will change?
Two seven-figure settlements in five days might make “socially responsible sheltering the new norm––if the idea isn’t corrupted LOS ANGELES, California; FORT WALTON BEACH, Florida––Representatives of pit bull attack victims twice in five days in early September 2019 announced apparent record-setting damage awards from animal care and control agencies for alleged negligence in allowing […]
L.A. County tightens dog policies; Albuquerque drops the ball
New animal control boss in Albuquerque caught repeating the old boss’s errors ALBUQUERQUE, LOS ANGELES––Los Angeles County Animal Control marked Dog Bite Prevention Week 2017, April 9-15, by moving decisively to try to ensure that only dogs deemed safe for adoption leave the county shelters. Albuquerque Animal Welfare fumbled to explain why a staff […]
Dog attack deaths bring sentences ranging from 0 to life
Less time in cases with non-white victims Human death resulting from dog caretaker negligence in the first third of 2016 brought or affirmed sentences of four convicted dog owners ranging from no time served to a potential life sentence. The four cases were similar, each involving dangerous dogs either running at large or left unattended […]
$37 million verdict ups the ante for pit bull attacks
by Merritt Clifton DECATUR, Georgia––Five years of legal and political history resulting from a March 9, 2010 pit bull attack on then-eight-year-old Erin Ingram gained another chapter on January 12, 2015 when DeKalb County senior judge Matthew Robins overruled a jury award to Ingram of $72 million and instead awarded Ingram and her family almost […]
Three pit bull stories to chew on
News analysis by Barbara Kay The news cycle of the last two weeks has turned up two remarkable pit bull-related stories in North America, both worthy of editorial mastication, so to speak. There is a third story, also noteworthy and included below, which didn’t make the mainstream news, but should have. The first story, […]
Lenient animal control policies toward bully breeds were in background of four of five recent death-by-dog cases
LOS ANGELES––Alex Donald Jackson, 31, of Littlerock, California, was on August 29, 2014 found guilty of second-degree murder for the pit bull mauling death of Palmdale resident Pamela Devitt, 63. The case was among at least five murder or manslaughter by dog cases recently before U.S. courts, all of them […]