FORT SMITH (KFSM) — A Fort Smith woman was recovering Friday (May 13) after she was attacked by a neighbor’s dog Wednesday morning, according to a police report.
Police responded to Enid Place around 8 a.m. where they found Joanna Brewer, 42, who told officers her neighbor’s pit bull bit her as she was walking back from taking her child to school, the report states. Officers found a dog bite on her right thigh.
Brewer said a second pit pull had also gotten out of her neighbor’s yard, but did not attack her, according to the report.
When she was bit, Brewer screamed for help and another neighbor, Albert Macdade, 74, came outside and was knocked down by the same dog that bit Brewer, the report states. Macdade drew his concealed revolver and shot at the dog, hitting it once, according to the report. He told officers he had injured his head and back when the dog knocked him down.
Police then spoke with the dogs’ owner, Ryan Williams, who told them he had put the animals in his backyard at 6 a.m. and then came out to find that they had gotten loose and one of them was shot, the report states. He said he did not know how the dogs got out of the yard.
Officers contacted Williams’ veterinary clinic and found neither of the dogs was current on their rabies vaccinations, according to the report.
Since the dog that bit Brewer had to be quarantined, Williams told officers to take it to his veterinary, who determined the animal could be saved, the report states. The vet performed surgery and then quarantined the dog, according to the report.
Williams was cited for having unvaccinated dogs and for letting them run loose. Police also classified the dog that bit Brewer as vicious and had Williams sign documents acknowledging the classification and the regulations he now has to follow, the report states.
Fort Smith city code states an owner has to confine a vicious dog to a pen when it is outside the owner’s home, the animal cannot be outside the home or enclosure unless it is being taken to a veterinarian, in which case the dog has to be muzzled and a on a leash, the dog’s home and pen has to be marked with signs informing the public that the animal is aggressive, and the owner will have to have proof of liability insurance in the amount of one million dollars to cover harm done by the dog, as well as proof the animal has been spayed or neutered.
If the owner fails to be in compliance, an animal control officer may seize and impound the dog and euthanize it within five business days unless the owner has demonstrated full compliance and paid all impoundment costs.
Fort Smith city code also forbids owners from letting dogs run loose within city limits.
Brewer said she went to the hospital to be treated for the dog bite.
