The co-owner of the dogs, Dewane Rickman, hadn't even paid off his $500 fine after a serious dog attack last year at his same 1228 Gholson Ave. address. He's innocent unless proved otherwise in a court of law, but if he is convicted, prosecutors and judges need to press for a firm punishment that will end his recklessness – before a passerby is killed.
And legislators should harden punishments in such cases, as we said on this page after the 2012 attack by other dogs owned by Rickman.
The FedEx driver, Debra Dickerson-King, was treated at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center.
Boston was also treated for injuries, the Journal's Jennifer Young reported. He's the second neighbor that had to fend off dogs from the Gholson Avenue property that had injured someone.
The dogs' co-owner is Debra Holland, according to Tim Jennings, head of the Forsyth County animal control department. He said Holland is blind and was sitting on her porch when the latest attack happened. Rickman was on the property, he said, but it was unclear where.
According to Jennings: “The three dogs apparently came racing out of the house and attacked the driver, pulling her to the ground and attacking multiple times." He said that the dogs have been seized. They will probably be euthanized.
As Young noted in Thursday's Journal, Rickman received multiple civil citations as a result of an attack involving four dogs last September. Kim Payne, the victim in that case, sustained deep puncture wounds to a thigh and arm before a neighbor beat the dogs off with a baseball bat.
Almost as galling as that first attack was Rickman's response: “They can charge me with anything they like,” he told the Journal. “I don’t have any money to pay them (the citations).”
Forsyth County District Attorney Jim O’Neill, whose office on Thursday was reviewing the latest case, said in response to that 2012 comment from Rickman: “Challenge accepted.”
After the September attack, animal control officers seized four adult dogs and seven puppies. The adult dogs were euthanized. The puppies were placed successfully for adoption, Jennings said. But Rickman, Jennings said, got more dogs.
Such owners ill-serve their pets and endanger the public.
Animal-control officers are getting an increasing number of calls about dogs and other vicious animals.
Forsyth County hasn't had a fatal dog attack in several years. But we could be running out of Good Samaritans like Broderick Boston. It's past time for a crackdown by legislators, prosecutors and judges.
(Winston-Salem Journal - Jun 6, 2013)
Earlier:
