Woman Injured When Dogs Attack

Thu., Nov. 2, 1995

By Jonathan Martin jonathanm@spokesman.com

Lisa Vieira was walking her 5-year-old son Joshua and his friends home from their school bus stop and listening to them chatter about their day at Willard Elementary two weeks ago when she saw two angry Rottweilers race across the street toward them.

The dogs, which broke out of a fenced yard across the street from the bus stop, circled Vieira and the kids, snapping and lunging, said Vieira, who was also holding a 7-month-old baby in her arms.

“The kids were terrified - these were big dogs,” said Vieira. “I started yelling at them and told them to go home.”

The incident at the corner of Bridgeport and Mayfair was investigated by SpokAnimal Care, which issued two notices for potentially dangerous animals to Sam Maxwell, 50 E. Bridgeport, identified as the owner of at least one of the dogs.

Vieira told the kids to continue walking up the street as she held off the dogs, estimated to be at least 75 pounds. When the kids were about 20 feet away, they attacked Vieira, biting her four times on her bottom and left leg.

Vieira said they would have continued biting her if it had not been for a mysterious hero who stopped his car on Bridgeport and “scared living heck out those dogs” by running at them and yelling.

“He was like a lunatic,” said Vieira. “With a baby in my hand, they would have kept going.”

The man called SpokAnimal first to report the incident and gave the same version as Vieira.

“We’d like to talk to that guy,” said animal control officer Mike Wilkerson.

Wilkerson said issuing notices is the first step toward impounding dogs. A second incident could result in a court requiring a $150 dangerous dog license, insurance for potential damage done by the dogs, a locked kennel and a muzzle.

“We’ve been keeping an eye on the place,” said Wilkerson.

SpokAnimal issue Maxwell a 10-day notice restricting the dogs to the yard. The notice expired Oct. 27.

Vieira said she and the parents of the other children have to take turns driving the children to school out of fear that the dogs would strike again.

“Joshua is just terrified of dogs,” said Vieira.

, DataTimes

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