Posted on 9/5/2010, 4:50:01 PM by Chet 99
September 04, 2010 2:24 PM Jana Barnello A family pet killed a grandmother Saturday morning in McMinn County. Sheriff Joe Guy says a woman's pit bull attacked her for no reason.
85-year-old Mattie Daugherty had her dog for nine years.
"I saw the dog on several occassions. Never shown any aggression to me," said Daugherty's neighbor Dale Holbrook.
But Saturday morning that changed. Guy says Daugherty, her family, and a neighbor were doing work on Daugherty's house at 151 County Road 492 near Etowah. Daugherty went inside, while her family worked outside. That's when Guy says the pit bull jumped on the woman and wouldn't let go.
Her family found her inside, with the dog standing over her. They couldn't get close, so a neighbor tried to shoot the pet.
"Unfortunately that didn't work," Guy said. "Our officers arrived and they also fired their weapons to try to get the dog to release and it would not."
Officer Randy Gabrel finally got the dog away, and Officer Tim Davis fired additional shots and killed it. They then tried to rescue Daugherty, but it was too late.
"It's nobody's fault," said Holbrook. "Everybody is heartbroken over it, and wish they could do something about it, and nobody can do anything."
Even though pit bulls have a reputation for being violent, Guy says there's no evidence this dog was ever aggressive.
"Animals are animal and sometimes they do things like that."
Guy does not expect to file any charges.
Oh, hey Chip. Good to see you posting again.
It has been said on this weblog that stupid dog owners are the reason that such attacks occur. This unfortunate woman must have done, or failed to do something that just simmered in that dog’s mind until one day, one fateful day, he’d just had enough.
ping
Who would he file charges against?!
“Nobody’s fault”???
A dead woman isn't evidence that it was aggressive?
There are centuries of evidence that the pit bull was successfully bred to be aggressive.
Even though pit bulls have a reputation for being violent, Guy says there's no evidence this dog was ever aggressive.
When I read people saying that THEIR pit bull is always good around kids, never attacks anybody, and that these attacks are really because their owners mistreated or trained them wrong, I just think of all these stories where the pet owners say the same things, only in retrospect, wondering how THEIR pet which NEVER was aggressive could suddenly one day not only attack an elderly woman, but latch on so tightly as to kill the woman, and to resist a gun assault.
Geez, you’d think all these pit bull attacks would add up to a pattern or something.
You would think that, but maybe Chet99 just hates pit bulls, and is ignoring as many or more stories about people being attached, mauled and even killed by Irish Setters and Labrador Retrievers and Cocker Spaniels and French Poodles, etc.
I was working in Stamford on the day that this happened- ambulances and police cars were SCREAMING down High Ridge Road. What struck me was that about 7 years ago, that animal had gotten loose in downtown Stamford and tied up traffic for hours. That should have been a red flag right there; never should have happened. So sad.
Chet is admitedly a puppet for 1COUNTER-MORTER-68
Huh? Methinks it was the dogs fault, and the adult owner had fair warning that this type of dog could go postal at any time. Anyone playing Russian roulette must take some responsibility.Sad ending.
RIP.
Labs, Setters, Spaniels? See below.
Fatalities from dog attacks have been documented thus far in the United States for 2010
(updated 4/19/10)
•California: A family-owned pit bull type dog attacked and killed a three-year-old boy on January 9 in Apple Valley, San Bernardino County. A news report indicates that the father left his son momentarily in the backyard to get a toy from inside the house, and upon his return he discovered that his son had already been attacked, and was not breathing. Authorities arrived at the scene, and shot and killed the dog. The incident was one of five fatal dog attacks in Southern California’s Inland Empire since 2006.
•Illinois: A 56-year-old South side Chicago man was mauled to death by at least two pit bull type dogs in his home on January 17. In total, there were six pit bull type dogs found in the home, four adults and two puppies, owned by his daughter who may have been breeding the dogs, although this is not clear. The daughter also lived at the home but was not home at the time of the attack. The mauling was savage, with both ears bitten off, one of the man’s eyes completely gouged, and numerous bites throughout the man’s torso and extremities, suggesting more than one dog’s involvement. According to neighbors, these dogs did not have a history of aggression towards people, were friendly towards neighbors, and the daughter maintain good control over of the dogs. Authorities concluded that the death was “accidental”.
•Mississipi: The fatality involved a six-year-old girl who was playing in the snow outside her home and was attacked by a neighbor’s pit bull dog. Apparently, only one dog was involved in the incident, but reports indicate that this dog lived with other pitbull dogs nearby. The probable cause of death to the victim were severe bite marks to the neck. In Terry, MS on February 12.
•Minnesota: The victim in this incident was an 11-day-old boy in a car seat situated on the owner’s bed. The dog involved was the family’s unusually large , male 70 lb. Siberian husky. Injuries were inflicted to the victim’s head. A story about this incident in which Dr. Polsky was interviewed can be accessed here. On February 18, in Independence, MN.
•Pennsylvania: The victim was a 38-year-old female who was arguing with her mother in the early morning hours of February 19 in the Fishtown section of Philadelphia, when one of the family’s pit bulls, an adult female, fatally attacked the victim as she fell backward during an argument. The mother was fighting with her daughter in an attemp to take the keys to the house away from her. According to news reports, when she fell backwards a lamp came crashing to the floor, which likely further exacerbated whatever aggressive tendencies this particular pit bull dog had momentarily as the incident unfolded. The mother said that the dog was in some sort of “protection-mode”. The dog locked its jaws around the victim’s neck and would not release. Reports indicate that neighbors, along with the mother, who also had five other pit bulls in the house, claim that all dogs were well-behaved and there were no problems between the dogs and the daughter. The daughter was familiar wih the dog involved in the incident. The daughter lived at the residence when she was not in jail or in drug-rehab. When the police arrived they shot two of the dogs, and the other four were taken to the SPCA.
•Flordia: In Ocala, FL. on February 20. The breed of dog involved in the incident was the American bulldog, despite other reports initially stating the breed was pit bull. The victim in this case was a three-year-old girl who was playing in the yard, and then entered the caged area containing four tethered, American bulldogs. The toddler became entangled on one of the dog’s tether, and was attacked and killed by a single, reproductively intact, male dog. The mother was cleaning the cages, and may have left the cage door unlatched, but this is unclear. She had gone into the house to use the restroom, and upon return discovered her child was inside the cage and mauled by the dog. The mother was operating a dog breeding business out of her home.
•Georgia: On February 18 in Conyers, GA. The victim was a five-day-old infant fatally wounded by a pit bull type dog. The mother walked into her daughter’s room, in response to the infant’s crying, and discovered the dog on top of the infant in the bassinet.
•Oregon. The victim was a four-year-old girl killed by the family 2 year-old Rottweiler. Details are sketchy for this case other than the fact that the mother discovered her badly injured child on the front lawn of the house, and shortly thereafter the child was taken to a Portland hospital where she was pronounced dead on arrival. The victim was the daughter of television’s reality show “Ax Men”,co-star Jesse Browning. According to an investigator, “apparently, the dog just snapped”. In Astoria, Oregon on or about February 28.
•Oklahoma. On March 8 on the Iowa Indian Reservation near Perkins, Oklahoma. Victim was an eight-month-old boy by two Rottweiler dogs brought into the home the night before for protection purposes. Initially news reports indicated that just one dog was involved, but this was changed to two dogs in subsequent reports. Both dogs were destroyed by animal control. Cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head, according to the medical examiner. Information on this case is sketchy. Note that other dog bite fatalities have occurred on Indian reservations in North America in 2010.
•Flordia. The incident involved a three year old, male pit bull mix dog, who severely mauled a seven-day old infant. The incident happened on the bed where the infant routinely slept with his 16-year-old mother. According to news reports, this particular pit bull dog, slept in the same bedroom with the infant and his mother. The mother was home at the time of the incident, but slept through the attack and discovered injured the baby later, but the infant could not be revived. According to others who knew the dog, this pitbull mix dog displayed no previous signs of aggressive behavior towards people. In New Port Richey, Florida on or about April 13, 2010.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.