Owners charged with felony after pit bull attack on woman that kills her pet

TEXAS -- Two Kyle dog owners have been indicted on a felony charge after their four dogs attacked a woman and killed her dog in June.

The woman, Amy Jensen, 59, is also suing the dogs’ owners and the city of Kyle. She alleges in the lawsuit that she had complained to the Kyle Police Department and Kyle Animal Control about the dogs charging at her and her small dog before, but that nothing was done.

On Wednesday, the case was brought before a Hays County grand jury, which indicted the dogs’ owners, Alba Mercado Cruz, 37, and Daniel Viera, 49, on a charge of attack by dog resulting in bodily injury, District Attorney Wes Mau said.

RIP little Jax

A pit bull and three pit bull mixes, the suit says, escaped the property of their owners twice and charged at Jensen during her morning walks with her dog.

The first time, she was able to get away, but on June 11, the dogs knocked her down and attacked her as she tucked her dog under her arms.

The pit bulls eventually got to Jensen’s dog, and he died later after being taken to a veterinarian.

Jensen was in the hospital for five days, she said. She had to get dozens of staples in her head for her injuries, her right ear was torn, and there were bite marks on her neck and her body. She was at the hospital when her dog, Jax, died.

She said she can’t forget “the sight of him being ripped from my arms and dragged.” Jax was a “snoodle” — a miniature poodle and miniature schnauzer mix.

Cruz and Viera haven’t been arrested, but they will eventually have to turn themselves into jail and are awaiting the advice of their lawyer, Viera said.

“I’m really sad about this, because I have a clean record,” Viera said. “I’ve never, ever had any problems with the law before.”



Amy Jensen was still hospitalized when she found out her beloved
dog, Jax, had died from the vicious pit bull attack

The attack was at 5:30 a.m., when Viera said he and Cruz were sleeping.

“I’m really sorry for what happened,” Viera said. “I’d never wish that on anybody. … They had never been aggressive with anybody before. They did get out a couple of times, but they never bit anybody before.”

Officials forced Viera and Cruz to have all four dogs put down, Viera said.

There were at least 10 pit bulls living in her neighbor’s backyard, while their Waterleaf Falls subdivision homeowner’s association only allowed four dogs per household, Jensen’s suit says.

The city of Kyle also should have done something when Jensen called authorities before the June 11 attack, the suit argues.

“In spite of the city’s rhetoric in its municipal code that a neighborhood has ‘the right to be free from fear that an animal may leave the premises of its owner or keeper and attack and injure a person or other domestic animal,’ the city of Kyle through its police and animal control department has ignored repeated requests by residents of the Waterleaf Falls subdivision and wholly failed to enforce its municipal code,” the suit says.

Jensen’s attorney, Dan Gattis, said he wrote the law on which Cruz and Viera were indicted when he was a state representative in 2007. The law, nicknamed Lillian’s Law, was written after 76-year-old Lillian Stiles was attacked and killed by several of her neighbors’ dogs.

Jensen is seeking more than $1 million for her medical expenses and other damages.

Kyle officials said they couldn’t comment on the lawsuit until they received a copy of the served suit, filed Wednesday.

“The city of Kyle is unable to comment on this issue due to the pending lawsuit,” city spokeswoman Kim Hilsenbeck said. “However, this presents us with another opportunity to remind pet owners about taking responsibility to properly care for and control their animals. Failure to do so can result in damage and injury to property and individuals that otherwise is preventable.”

(MyStatesman.com - Sept 4, 2015)

Earlier:

• Woman injured, dog dead after 4 pit bulls attack them in Kyle