Elizabeth Hiatt, her daughters, and her neighbors made their case Wednesday, October 25, during a special dangerousness hearing presided over by Sandwich Police Chief Peter N. Wack.
The attack took place on September 5 on Deep Wood Drive and started when Bubba attacked another dog, a Samoyed named Klondike. When Klondike’s owner, Wayne Cobb, pried Bubba off his dog, Bubba attacked the woman who had been walking him, Ms. Hiatt.
Ms. Hiatt had been walking the dog for her neighbors, Clifford Gardner and Edith Gardner, an elderly couple whose frail health prevents them from walking Bubba themselves. The Gardners adopted Bubba about 18 months before the incident and have owned other dogs before him.
Ms. Hiatt said she had previously walked Bubba for one month without incident, including no issues when Klondike and Bubba crossed paths.
On the day of the attack, Ms. Hiatt said, she was walking Bubba with her daughter, Brittany Korsh, and her granddaughter, who was in a stroller. Around 5:30 PM, as Mr. Cobb walked past, Bubba bolted toward Klondike, breaking his collar in the process.
She said rumors that Bubba was provoked were unfounded.
“I read on social media that Klondike made a movement toward Bubba, but this is untrue,” she said.
“I could feel tissue being torn,” she said. “I could feel my bones breaking.”
At this point, she said, she went into shock while her daughter tried to get Bubba off her. A woman driving past the scene, Sandra Murphy of Forestdale, stopped to help and put Ms. Korsh’s baby in her car to get her away from the dog.
The same passerby called 911, urging emergency responders to hurry, out of fear that Bubba was going to kill his victim.
The attack continued for about 10 minutes until Mr. Gardner showed up and threw his body on top of his dog.
Ms. Hiatt was first taken to Cape Cod Hospital’s emergency room, where she was given priority care. However, the staff determined that her injuries were beyond their capabilities and she was transferred by ambulance to Boston Medical Center.
A surgical team in Boston spent more than three hours fixing the damage that was done to her hand. A second surgical team repaired her face.
There were two bones that had been broken in Ms. Hiatt’s left arm, but the damage to the tissue from the attack was so severe that the medical team was unable to put her in a cast.
She spent three days in hospital care.
In total, she required 100 stitches. As of the hearing, her arm still required a splint. She said that doctors told her that she will spend the next two years in physical therapy as a result of the damage done to her hands.
“I could feel tissue being torn,” she said.
“I could feel my bones breaking."
Despite the attack, Ms. Hiatt said that the Gardners are good friends and that she does not blame them for the dog’s aggression. She said that the fault there possibly lies with the dog’s previous owner.
“The only evil in this is the person who trained Bubba to do what he did,” she said.
Oh God. Seriously? Stop making excuses for this vicious dog. These old people have owned it for two years -- if it were 'trained' or 'abused' and 'made mean', it would have killed them. Anyone with a brain can see this dog is extremely animal-aggressive and wants to kill any and all animals. Every single person who had an incident with this Pit Bull has had a common denominator -- their pets were with them.
EUTHANIZE THIS DOG NOW AND BE DONE WITH IT.
Still, she feels that if Bubba could attack her, what would stop him from attacking one of the 21 children who live on the street?
“We don’t know what was different about that day and because of that, we don’t know that it won’t happen again,” she said.
After Ms. Hiatt concluded her statement, Mr. Gardner was given the chance to defend Bubba, who he said was adopted in May 2016. He said Bubba was tested for aggression before the Hiatts were allowed to bring him home, and that he 'passed the test with flying colors'.
“We took the dog home and starting that day he was the best dog we ever had,” he said. “He’s the kindest, gentlest, most obedient dog we’ve ever had.”
Lies, lies, lies... how do you know when the Gardners are lying? When their lips are moving.
Mr. Gardner claimed that since owning Bubba, he has faced hostility within the neighborhood, including from Mr. Cobb, who he claimed would frequently harass Bubba.
His claim that Mr. Cobb provoked Bubba on the day of the attack was denied by both Ms. Hiatt and Mr. Cobb.
Since the attack, Mr. Gardner said that he has been subject to further animosity from others in the neighborhood.
“I had one woman who lives on Deep Wood Drive let me know that she hated me and that I spoiled Halloween for all of the children and that she wished I was dead,” he said. “No one’s ever done that to me before.”
Chief Wack asked the Gardners if Bubba had ever bitten another person prior to this incident, to which they answered that he had not.
“He’s not a vicious dog,” Ms. Gardner said.
Chief Wack then asked Deputy Animal Control Officer Walter T. Fagnant Jr. to speak to the September incident.
Mr. Fagnant said that when he arrived, Ms. Hiatt had already been taken to the hospital and that Bubba had been secured by Mr. Gardner.
“The dog was calm and let me pet him,” he said, saying that Bubba was not aggressive in any way at that time.
Mr. Fagnant ordered Bubba to be quarantined in the Gardners’ home. Per this order, Bubba was only allowed outside the home if he was leashed and in their back yard. Three days later an order that requires Bubba to wear a muzzle any time that he is not in the home was issued.
He said that in the year and a half that the Gardners owned Bubba, he had not received a single complaint from anyone in the neighborhood who had concerns about the dog until now.
Ms. Hiatt was given the opportunity to give another statement before the hearing was closed. She expressed concern that the Gardners are not healthy enough to adequately care for a dog like Bubba.
“A dog like that needs exercise,” she said, pointing to the fact that neither Mr. or Ms. Gardner are physically capable of walking Bubba.
Additionally, she questioned if there was a legally recognized difference between a single dog bite and a mauling.
After a brief recess, Chief Wack announced that he had reconsidered allowing public comment. Anyone wishing to speak would be given a few minutes to plead their case.
Several residents of Deep Wood Drive said they feared for the safety of their children.
“It’s not fair that we have to tell our kids to ride their bikes in the other direction or that we’re driving our kids to school because we’re afraid to let them stand at the bus stop,” Dyan Craddock said. “We should not have to live waiting for the next time the dog is triggered.”
Other residents said they had previously had issues with Bubba, but that they had not reported those incidents.
Mark Govoni said that he had been walking his dog along the street a few days before the attack when Bubba charged at his dog from behind the bushes. No attack took place at this time.
“I don’t know what triggers an animal to do something like that,” he said referring to the attack on Ms. Hiatt, “but can we take the chance that it will happen again?”
Three weeks before the attack, William Gilbert said, Bubba hurtled toward himself and his young granddaughter. He said he feels lucky that they were uninjured and that someone noticed the dog was loose and hauled him away.
“I didn’t know it was Cliff’s dog,” he said.
The woman who helped out at the scene, Ms. Murphy, gave a tearful testimony and said that witnessing the situation has changed her life forever.
“Every time she would try to move, the dog would shake her,” she said. “As he was doing that he was dragging her farther into the grass.”
Ms. Hiatt’s other daughter, Regan Sherman, said it took the family three days to track down animal control to get Bubba muzzled. She also said that while her mother spoke about the physical damage that she has suffered, there has been significant emotional damage resulting from the attack, as well.
Ms. Sherman said her sister is traumatized by the incident. She added that while her parents empathize with the Gardners, it does not mean that they should be able to keep Bubba.
“All it takes is one time—if someone you care about is drinking too much, you don’t let them get into a car,” she said. “I don’t see why that doesn’t apply to this situation.”
Ms. Craddock said she is not looking for Bubba to be put down; rather, she hopes that the decision is made to place him with owners who can effectively care for him.
“As a resident of Deep Wood Drive I hope that the Town of Sandwich and the owners would do the responsible thing and remove the dog or hand him over to animal control,” she said.
NIMBY (NOT IN MY BACKYARD)
THE NEIGHBORHOOD IS FULL OF MORONS. I DON'T WANT YOUR VICIOUS PIT BULL DUMPED INTO MY NEIGHBORHOOD. IT'S EASY TO SAY, 'OH I DON'T WANT TO MAKE THE DECISION TO EUTHANIZE HIM. SEND HIM AWAY - SOMEWHERE NOT NEAR ME OR MY CHILDREN. RETRAIN HIM, FIND HIM A NEW HOME, BLAH, BLAH'. THIS WOMAN DOESN'T CARE ABOUT YOUR CHILDREN OR YOU. SHE JUST DOESN'T WANT TO BE A GROWNUP AND TELL THE TRUTH - THIS DOG NEEDS TO BE PUT DOWN FOR EVERYONE'S SAFETY.
With Halloween just around the corner, she said, many of the families with children are looking for other neighborhoods to take their children to.
“We’ve all been rearranging our lives for fear of this dog,” she said.
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