Lapeer prosecutor says he would have acted if told of prior dog attacks

MICHIGAN -- Lapeer County Prosecutor Tim Turkelson says his office never was notified about vicious dogs biting pedestrians and roaming free in Metamora Township and would have taken action before two of those dogs killed a jogger last week.

“Unfortunately, there were red flags all over the place,” Turkelson said in a phone interview today.

Had his office been told by Lapeer County Animal Control about repeated attacks, he said, he would have taken action to have the dogs destroyed.

RIP Craig Sytsma

Turkelson said he planned to meet with Metamora Township police and Lapeer County Animal Control today. “We want to determine what went wrong, where any breakdown occurred.”

The Free Press reported Monday that the owners of the dogs, Valbona Lucaj and Sebastiano Quagliata, dealt with few consequences as their large Cane Corso dogs roamed Thomas Road and bit passersby at least twice.

Lucaj was issued two tickets charging her with civil infractions in November 2013, after one of their dogs bit a man in his 70s, but she never showed up for a court hearing. The couple eventually paid $280 in fines in late January and the case was closed.

Last Wednesday, two of the couple’s dogs mauled to death Craig Sytsma, 46, of Livonia, as he jogged along Thomas Road.

There were at least two documented dog bites leading up to the fatal mauling. In 2012, a woman was bitten at least three times on the leg. Animal Control officers ordered the dog quarantined for 10 days but did not issue tickets. The woman, April Smith, sued the couple and won a $20,000 judgment.

Eighteen months later, three dogs came after the man in his 70s, and one bit him. He was able to fend the others off with his walking stick. Lucaj was ticketed for allowing a dog to run loose and for having a dog that attacked another animal (although the case involved a human).

At that point animal control officers could have taken the matter to the prosecutor, arguing a pattern of dangerous behavior. “They never notified us,” Turkelson said.

At least one neighbor said she reported the dogs running freely in the rural neighborhood. Ashley Winter, 31, told the Free Press that when she called animal control about the dogs roaming in her yard, swimming in her pond and going into her garage, she was told to try to capture the animals or talk to her neighbor. Winter said she was too scared to approach her neighbor’s house because of the dogs.

The owners likely face criminal prosecution in last Wednesday’s fatal attack. Turkelson said his office continues to investigate and could decide by the end of the week what charges to bring.

Under Michigan law, the owner of a dog involved in a unprovoked, fatal attack on a person can be charged with involuntary manslaughter, a felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison.

(Detroit Free Press - July 29, 2014)

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