On Wednesday, the district attorney announced that owner James Hardiman won’t be criminally charged unless someone has first-hand information to show he knew his dogs were dangerous.
[This is the problem with the laws. The owner only has to insist he had 'no idea' his dogs were aggressive or would ever hurt anyone. Many animal control agencies are either overworked or are lazy and don't implement the dangerous dog ordinances in their region. Bite reports and having a dog deemed dangerous sets the groundwork for when this dog AGAIN does something, the owner CAN be held responsible b/c in the eyes of the law, the owner can't claim ignorance of the dog's aggression.
Many times the owners will simply surrender the dog to be put down rather than have to deal with the restrictions placed on them by animal control. In my opinion, that's a better outcome b/c we don't have to deal with this aggressive dog possibly getting loose again. Unfortunately, most agencies have bad employees or they are so short-handed they simply don't have the manpower to deal with the paperwork, effort and time that involves getting a dog declared dangerous.]
The victim’s family hopes that someone will come forward and speak with authorities.
“Please come forward, a message to anybody that can help us steer this case in the other direction with another set of eyes, by God's will come forward,” the victim’s brother, Gary Salcedo, said.
The district attorney’s office said the case is not closed and the statute of limitations is five years.
(KOAT - Sept 29, 2011)
Earlier:
