Had to share this story because I can hardly believe what I have heard and it infuriates me. A friend of ours was visiting a local flea market over the weekend with his 7 year old son. As they were walking through the young boy evidentally came up on some puppies that were being sold there. All of a sudden the momma dog which happened to be a pit bull lunged at him out from under the table that was there and attacked this young boy for no apparent reason. The dog ripped his pants and bit him on the leg & thigh. Our friend tended to his son, tried to calm him down and checked over his wounds, by the time he looked up to try to find the owner of this dog the woman had taken the dog and run off. Our friend quickly called 911 and luckily there were some paramedics already there and they checked on the boy while the father contaced the local police. When the local police arrived they basically advised our friend that there wasn't anything they could do. When our friend asked the officer, "What if this dog had chewed his face off or something? or What if the dog has rabies?" and the officer got rude with him and said, "We are not in the what if game, we are dealing with the facts here and the fact is that we can't do anything sir." These police officers are always giving out parking tickets in the parking lot every weekend but are now saying they can't handle situations like this. Another officer advised our friend to contact another Sheriff's dept which happens to be in another county, and then was told by that county Sheriff to contact another county Sheriff. The facts are that the original officers who responded had jurisdiction at this particular flea market yet they wouldn't help this man and his son. On his own our friend was able to find out information on the woman and the dog from people that were there at the scene. When the woman was contacted about the dog first she didn't have the dog, then later said it was her dog, when asked if the dog had it's current shots she said yes that she administered them herself, when asked for proof she said she bought the vaccine at a local store, when our friend called that store he was told that they do not sell the rabies vaccine there. This dog should have been quarantined and watched for 2 weeks but now the dog is no where to be found. Now our friend's young son will have to take shots for rabies which when all is said and done the treatments will end up costing our friend $9000. He finally contacted a lawyer yesterday and was told that he would take the case and not to worry or try to make contact with anyone else regarding the matter.
I am just beside myself and disgusted by the way this small town police department dropped the ball here and let this woman and her dog walk away scott free and the way they were rude and unhelpful to our friend and his son. Also the owner of the flea market was rude when our friend contacted her to let her know about the incident and to tell her that there are dangerous dogs on the property. So beware if you visit your local flea market. There may be dangerous animals there that can and will attack you or your kids. Don't assume you are safe or that the athorities in the immediate jurisdiction will help you because evidentally they don't have to. Just makes me sick!
2 comments:
I won't be visiting the flea market untill they resolve this issue. What a shame.
UPDATE: Today our friend was able to get ahold of the Sherriff's office in the county in which the dog owner resides. The sheriffs deputies went to the woman's home to see about quarantining the dog to observe it to see if it had rabies...when they got there they found that she had 4 pit bull dogs and she refused to cooperate and tell the officers which dog it was that attacked our friend's son if you can believe that. The deputies evidentally are having the woman quarantine the dogs at her residence...which seems crazy to me. Not sure how all of this is going to play out in the end. I will keep you posted.
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