Judge bases her decision on severity of mailman’s wounds
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| David Noel listens Tuesday in court as Judge Kathy Mangeot decides the fate of his pit bull that attacked a Frankfort mail carrier earlier this summer. |
KENTUCKY -- Bullasan, the pit bull who severely bit a Frankfort mailman, will be euthanized, a local judge has ruled.
Franklin District Judge Kathy Mangeot granted County Attorney Rick Sparks’ motion Tuesday that Bullasan be put down after he bit mailman Chis Lombardi June 28.
The pit bull’s owner, David Noel, of 214 Swigert Ave., objected to the motion and pleaded with Mangeot to reconsider.
“I’ve had him since he was 5 weeks old,” Noel said tearfully. “He’s part of the family.”
[If they've had this dog since it was 5 weeks old, what do you say about the theory to 'blame the deed and not the breed'? Many pit bull enthusiasts say that the only way to make a pit bull do something like this is to beat it and torture it and 'make' it mean. However, there is no indication that this family ever beat the dog, tortured it, forced it to fight, abused it and turned it into a monster. How else to explain this action by the dog, then?
Mangeot said as a pet owner herself, the motion to put down Bullasan was “probably the hardest motion” that’s ever been before her. But she said she had to take into account Lombardi’s injuries, which she called “gruesome” and “severe.”
“As a dog lover and owner, I would sure hate to have a dog that was in my care that acted out in this manner,” Mangeot said.
“I know that he’s your pet; I know that you care for him … but I’m concerned that the public is at risk, and part of my duty is to make sure the public is protected.”
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| Mailman Chris Lombardi continues to recover from being attacked by a pit bull June 28. |
After the district court session, Noel declined The State Journal’s request for comment.
According to a statement from Lombardi to Frankfort Postmaster John Dampier the day of the incident, Bullasan attacked Lombardi as he was leaving Noel’s property after delivering his mail.
Pictures of Lombardi’s injuries show the pit bull bit a chunk out of his arm and left bite marks on his leg.
Dampier told The State Journal the day of the incident that it was one of the worst dog bites he’d seen in his 22-year career with the postal service. Lombardi has yet to return to work, said Mike Wilson, supervisor at the local post office, adding he isn’t expected to return for a while.
He called the decision to euthanize Bullasan “good news.”
“Nothing against the animal, but it could’ve happened to somebody else. It could’ve been a kid,” Wilson said. “Luckily Chris was big enough to get the dog off him.”
Since the attack, Bullasan has been kept in quarantine at the Franklin County Humane Society. FCHS volunteer Teresa Masters, who accompanied Noel to Tuesday’s hearing, said Bullasan was “a perfect gentleman” while at the shelter.
The shelter veterinarian will be the one to euthanize Bullasan, but a date hasn’t been set, Masters said.
Sparks said he partly based his motion to euthanize Bullasan on the severity of Lombardi’s injuries.
“It’s a sad thing, but on the other hand, it was a gruesome attack,” Sparks said. “With that kind of behavior from a dog, I think that’s the only option you have is to put them down, be it a pit bull or a 10-pound Chihuahua.”
He said he also took into account Noel’s previous offense. According to court records, Noel pleaded guilty in 2005 to a misdemeanor charge of permitting a vicious dog to run at large after Bullasan was found running loose on Claxton Avenue, court records say.
In that case, Noel agreed that “further violations would result in forfeiture of the dog,” court records say.
Lombardi has filed a personal injury suit in Franklin Circuit Court against Noel, seeking unspecified damages. The suit also names Kelly Noel, but it’s unclear what her relation is to David Noel.
For Bullasan’s attack on Lombardi, Noel was charged with harboring a vicious animal – a city animal control ordinance. He was also charged with failure to produce documentation of rabies vaccination and failure to have rabies tags.
Noel will appear back in court on those charges in October.
(The State Journal - August 8, 2012)
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