A 39-year-old Hazel Park woman was left with severe injuries to her neck, arms and legs after three dogs she owned with her husband turned on her outside their home on Halloween night, and a responding police officer was bitten on the thigh while trying to shield her from the animals. One of the dogs, described by police as a Presa Canario, was shot and killed by an officer after it and another dog circled back toward the woman during the attack.
According to audacy.com, Hazel Park police received a 911 call at 8:17 p.m. Saturday about a dog attack at a home on the 1800 block of East Milton, near I-75 and 8 Mile. Officers arriving on scene found the woman lying in the driveway while two pit bulls and the Presa Canario attacked her, per the outlet's report citing police. As first detailed by CBS Detroit, the dogs also circled the officer who approached to help.
Taser Failed to Stop the Attack
One officer used a Taser twice on the animals, which briefly distracted them but did not stop the mauling, the station's report notes. That officer was then bitten on the thigh while trying to shield the woman from further harm. A second officer ultimately shot and killed the wounded dog after it and a second animal circled back toward the victim, per the same account.
The injured officer was taken to an area hospital, treated for the bite wound and released, while the woman was transported with severe injuries to her neck, arms and legs, the report states. The remaining two dogs initially fled the scene but were located shortly afterward and are being held by Animal Control as the investigation continues, according to the article.
Attack Reportedly Began Inside Over a Stray Puppy
A resident in the home told investigators that the dogs attacked the woman inside the house after she had taken in a stray puppy, then dragged her outside onto the driveway, according to police accounts relayed in the same report. Police said all three dogs were owned by the woman and her husband and that none of them were registered with the city. Hazel Park police described the incident as “a tragic event for the victim and our officers,” per the outlet.
A City With a History of Dog-Bite Debates
The attack lands in a city that has wrestled publicly with dangerous-dog policy before. Hazel Park banned pit bulls from 2011 to 2015 before repealing that ordinance in favor of broader restrictions targeting dogs that display dangerous behavior regardless of breed, according to the Detroit Free Press. That same reporting recalls the 2019 death of 4-year-old Benjamin Cobb, who was fatally mauled by a pit bull in Hazel Park while his mother tried to intervene; the dog involved was later euthanized.
City officials have pointed to local bite data in weighing those debates. Hazel Park City Manager Ed Klobucher said a city graph showed more dog bites from pit bulls than from any other breed in town, according to Fox 2 Detroit. More broadly, Detroit Animal Care and Control picked up more than 4,100 dogs across the city in a single recent year, with hundreds of bites reported annually, per the Free Press's reporting.
What Michigan Law Says About Dangerous Dogs
Under Michigan law, a dangerous animal is defined as a dog or other animal that bites or attacks a person, according to the Michigan Legislature. State statute also holds that if a dog bites a person without provocation, the dog's owner is liable for damages suffered by the person bitten, regardless of whether the owner knew the dog had been vicious before.
Michigan law further provides that when an animal is found through a court hearing to be dangerous and to have caused serious injury or death, a district court magistrate, district court or municipal court shall order the animal destroyed at the owner's expense. Separately, state law allows an animal control agency to humanely euthanize an animal if a licensed veterinarian determines it is injured or diseased beyond recovery, or that its continued existence would be inhumane.
