Santa Barbara police say a red chow mix belonging to Jean Frances Snyder, 57, bit a 5-year-old girl on State Street on July 5. Snyder simply walked of with the dog. The child's father ran after her and when he caught up with Snyder, Snyder allegedly provided the girl’s father with false information.
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| Snyder tried to hide her dog and then blame a different one |
To identify her, police circulated a photograph of her to the public. Snyder was identified, located and investigated by the Santa Barbara Police Department’s Animal Control Unit, according to Sgt. Riley Harwood. He said she lives outside the city limits, but is within police jurisdiction since the incident happened downtown.
When ordered to bring the bite dog to the shelter, "she brought an animal that actually was not the animal she had at the time of the incident and reported that one to have been the animal involved," says Sergeant Riley Harwood, Santa Barbara Police Department.
Snyder faces charges of concealing information about the dog’s location with the intent to prevent the quarantine of the animal and failure to provide animal bite information, both Misdemeanors under the Penal Code, according to the Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office.
Snyder is also accused of violating three Municipal Code sections: interference with Animal Control duties, failure to report an animal bite to police, and failure to isolate or surrender a biting animal, all Misdemeanors according to police. Harwood said the City Attorney’s Office handles the municipal violations while the District Attorney’s Office handles the Penal Code violations.
Snyder is scheduled for a Sept. 7 hearing in Santa Barbara County Superior Court.
After a bite, animal owners are required to give the victim their name, contact information and license tag number of the animal, according to the California Penal Code. Owners are also required to quarantine their animals.
Animal Control investigators found Snyder and her dog after the quarantine period, but were able to determine the dog was healthy at the time of the bite.
(Noozhawk - August 30, 2012)
