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Letter to the editor

Law a 'little bit skewed' on dog attacks

Because two pit bulls were restrained after an attack and before police arrived, no citations were given.

By M.E. Baker, Times Correspondent
Published February 20, 2008

ST. PETERSBURG - Every evening, Judge Judy and Judge Wapner go for a walk with Dixie and Sam through their neighborhood east of the intersection of 30th Avenue N and 49th Street.

The judges and Dixie are always in the lead, but it's Sam who's in control. Because, you see, Sam holds their leashes.

The walk is part of the daily routine of the Chapman household since Sam and his wife, Jill, moved into their home at 4700 33rd Ave. N nine years ago. Sunday night, however, that routine turned horribly, almost tragically, wrong.

Chapman and Judge Judy, a 7-year-old Jack Russell terrier, Judge Wapner, a 5-year-old cairn terrier, and Dixie, a 16-month-old cairn, were on their usual trek, a four-block outing that always ends at the convenience store on 49th Street before heading for home.

Over time, Chapman has figured out where all the other dogs are in the neighborhood. He's seen them and, in the cases where they're obscured by high backyard fences, learned their bark. He even knows where the pit bulls are and avoids that alley for fear of something happening.

Sunday, the quartet was on the backside of the route and reached a point where an alley intersected the sidewalk. Chapman heard the "ch-ch-ch" of canine nails running. He looked east into the alley across the street and saw two pit bulls approaching, rapidly. These weren't dogs he knew. He had never seen them before.

The dogs didn't stop. "Didn't circle. Didn't growl and stand off. They just charged," Chapman said.

They grabbed Dixie, the youngest dog, each attacker taking a different end, tearing at the animal's flesh. Chapman beat at the pit bulls. He called out for help. When he managed to get Dixie away from one dog, the other would hang on.

Chapman is 6 feet 5, 240 pounds. He works out and looks trim for his 52 years. A science teacher at Largo High School, he's accustomed to being in control of a classroom. But at that moment, Chapman said, "I couldn't do diddly."

* * *

Some 114 cases of dogs biting other animals were investigated by Pinellas County Animal Services in 2007, according to operations manager Greg Andrews. The largest number of cases involved pit bulls, but he cautioned that he did not know what portion of the county's canine population the breed represented. He added that "any dog has the capacity of biting."

Andrews noted that incidents of cats biting other animals were investigated three times more often. This was especially true, he said, of feral cats.

* * *

Across the street, a neighbor heard Chapman's cries and came running to help separate the pit bulls from their catch. Finally, Chapman was able to hold the pit bulls by their collars. He asked the man to take his dogs, including the bloodied Dixie, across the street away from the pit bulls. The pit bulls no longer fought. Chapman said they sat at his feet, looking as if they expected to be petted. Chapman figures the whole incident lasted about three or four minutes.

A neighbor adjacent to the alley called 911, retrieved a leash from inside the house and used it to tie the pit bulls to the bumper of his car.

A man in a white pickup drove slowly by the scene. Behind the wheel was 26-year-old Marcus G. McLelland. He told Chapman he was looking for his two pit bulls that had escaped from his fenced back yard a few blocks away at 4567 31st Ave. N.

Police and animal control officers arrived. The police officer told Chapman that no citation could be issued because the dogs, now leashed and secured, were no longer running free. The animal control officer told him that the animals couldn't be considered dangerous because no reports had been previously filed against them.

For his part, McLelland was "very apologetic" and even offered to take care of medical expenses, Chapman said.

By the end of the week, Dixie was back home. Parts of her right side and right rear leg were shaved, revealing several large deep gouges. Tubes in her belly drained off fluid. A bite on Chapman's hand, incurred sometime during the struggle, had scabbed over.

McLelland declined to be interviewed. Chapman, however, was almost sympathetic.

"I'm from Georgia. I like dogs more than people. You can trust them more and they're nicer," he said. "I think a dog is going to be a dog."

His wife, Jill, still trembles as she speaks about the incident.

She insists that something must be done to give victims of dog attacks, and potential victims, more support. "The laws are a little bit skewed," she said, because McLelland wasn't cited.

"Somehow the public must be made aware of it. We know where the sex offenders live. We should know where the pit bulls live."

"This is not my single-handed campaign against pit bulls," she said, noting that their daughter owns a dog of that breed.

If McLelland doesn't pay the expenses from the attack as promised, Mrs. Chapman said she might file a civil action to have a ticket issued to him.

"Issuing a ticket won't help Dixie any," her husband responds. "It's a bad situation. It's bad for him (McLelland). It's bad for us."

As for the nightly routine, it's as hurt as Dixie. Chapman hasn't taken the dogs on their walk since.

[Last modified February 19, 2008, 22:43:20]