Emily Richardson's daughter, Evy, is one of several children who have been bit in recent months. She has discovered some of the animals have more rights than the victims.
To look at 4-year-old Evy today, it's hard to tell that just eight months ago, she was attacked by a family member's pug named Cosby.
"What happened when the dog attacked you? What did Cosby do?" Richardson asked.
"He chewed my cheek up," Evy said.
CHILD BITTEN BY SAME DOG TWICE
Richardson said 18 months earlier, Evy was injured by her uncle's dog in a less serious attack. Both dog attacks happened during a visit to her grandmother.
"There was blood everywhere," Richardson said. "My mother was completely heartbroken and in tears, barely able to stand up. You could just see the pain she felt."
Evy received 100 stitches on her face and endured four surgeries, resulting in thousands of dollars in medical bills.
But Richardson said what upsets her most is the fact that animal control officers released Cosby back to her brother after a 10-day quarantine.
"There should definitely be something in place where, when something like this happens, the dog should be removed from society," she said.
Though it's not uncommon for vicious dogs to be put down, cases like this don't apply since the attack happened on the property where the dog and his owner live.
Though Evy is recovering, Richardson wants Tennessee lawmakers to strengthen laws when it comes to dogs that attack.
Note: After reading about Evy's case, I researched Tennessee law. There is a law in Tennessee that says if a dog attacks someone and causes serious bodily injury or death, the district attorney general for that county can petition a judge in that same county to order that the dog be put down. It does not say that the dog needs to be running loose at the time of the attack. It simply says that if a dog causes this much damage to someone, it needs to be euthanized. And it can be euthanized over the objections of the owner.
I think there is a disconnect with animal control and the laws. Animal control officers typically deal with local laws (rabies tags, quarantine procedures, leash law violations, etc.) and they may not even know that these state laws exist.
This dog clearly caused serious bodily injury to this little girl and a petition should have been filed to get a judge to order that the dog be put down.
§ 44-17-120 Destruction of dog causing death or serious injury to human -- notice to dog's owner
Any dog that attacks a human and causes death or serious bodily injury may be destroyed upon the order of the judge of the circuit court of the county wherein the attack occurred. Such orders shall be granted on the petition of the district attorney general for the county. The petition shall name the owner of the dog, and the owner shall be given notice in accordance with Rule 4.01 of the Tennessee rules of civil procedure, that if the owner does not appear before the court within five (5) days of the receipt thereof and show cause why the dog should not be destroyed, then the order shall issue and the dog shall be destroyed.
What is the legal definition of "serious bodily injury" in Tennessee?
§ 39-11-106 Criminal offenses - definitions
"Serious bodily injury" means bodily injury that involves:
- A substantial risk of death
- protracted unconsciousness
- extreme physical pain
- protracted or obvious disfigurement
- protracted loss or substantial impairment of a function of a bodily member, organ or mental faculty OR
- a broken bone of a child who is eight (8) years of age or younger
Notice it doesn't say that the victim has to suffer all of these things. That word "or" is very important. It means as long as the victim suffers at least one of these qualifiers, it can be determined that the victim suffered the TN legal definition of "serious bodily injury".
For legal purposes, the word "protracted" means continuing, drawn out, lengthy, dragged out, long, ongoing, prolonged, etc. If a victim is unable to use their arm for a length of time (to do basic things like brush your hair, take a shower, dress yourself, etc.), that would be considered "protracted loss of a function of a bodily member". If a victim is looking at multiple surgeries, months and months (maybe years) of additional surgeries, physical therapy, etc. that would be "protracted".
"My feelings went from sorry to the fear that this animal is back," Richardson said.
Evy may have to undergo additional surgeries in the future. She is still seeing a counselor on a regular basis over the night terrors she experiences while reliving the attack in her sleep.
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