Feb 27, 2015 Lawsuit: Tenants Claim Landlord’s Pit Bull Attacked Their Lab In Backyard

Chicago - A Chicago couple is suing their landlord over claims his Pit Bull attacked their Labrador in their shared backyard on the day they moved in, causing injuries to them and their dog.

On that day, the suit says, the Clearys moved into a the second floor apartment in a two-flat building in the 3600 block of North Tripp Avenue that Weinberg owned and lived in. They say Weinberg had a Pit Bull and they had a Lab and a Chihuahua.

While Weinberg told them his dog was friendly and harmless, the plaintiffs claim the Pit attacked their Lab after Tiffany Cleary and her dogs came into the backyard following a walk. The suit says Weinberg’s dog was unleashed and latched onto the Lab’s neck.

While trying to pry the Pit Bull off their Lab, David Cleary claims he sustained a puncture wound to his left hand and Tiffany Cleary claims she suffered neck and back injuries. They also claim their dog sustained neck wounds and they suffered post-traumatic stress, anxiety, depression and sleep disorders as a result of the incident.

Read more:
The Cook County Record

Related posts:
Feb 10, 2015 Chicago Woman Attacked by Pit Bull, Sees Pet Killed and is Shot in Foot at Jazz Festival
Nov 21, 2014 Schaumburg Mother of boy allegedly attacked by pit bull sues dog, property owners
Aug 29, 2014 Granite City resident sued over boy’s injuries in pit bull attack
Aug 27, 2014 Suit: Dog attacked man while delivering package
Aug 11, 2014 Suit: Three Cook County Pit Bulls Attacked Professional Dog Walker

Feb 10, 2015 Lawsuit: Chicago Woman Attacked by Pit Bull, Sees Pet Killed and is Shot in Foot at Jazz Festival

Chicago - A woman attended a Jazz festival at Chicago State University with her dog.  A pit bull attacked her and then attacked and killed her dog.  A responding police officer fired 9 rounds (at a festival) and shot the woman in the foot.

And because this is Chicago, this did not even make the news.

Read more:
The Cook County Record

Related posts:
Nov 21, 2014 Lawsuit: Schaumburg Mother of boy allegedly attacked by pit bull sues dog, property owners
Aug 29, 2014 Lawsuit: Granite City resident sued over boy’s injuries in pit bull attack
Aug 27, 2014 Lawsuit: Dog attacked man while delivering package
Aug 11, 2014 Lawsuit: Three Cook County Pit Bulls Attacked Professional Dog Walker

Feb 18, 2015 Woman says dog attack led to partial thumb amputation

Richton Park - A Richton Park woman is suing a man and woman over claims their dog attacked her, causing injuries and ultimately requiring her to have a partial amputation of her thumb.

Regina Todd filed a recent lawsuit in Cook County Circuit Court against Felicia and Akbar Townsend Sr., alleging negligence and violations of the Illinois Animal Control Act.

According to the complaint, Todd was legally on defendants' property on Ridgeway Avenue on June 22, 2014, when their pit bull attacked her without provocation. She claims the defendants failed to supervise and control the dog, leading her to suffer injuries and scars to her right hand, which ultimately led to the partial amputation of her thumb.

Todd seeks damages in excess of $50,000, along with costs, and is represented by attorney Maxwell J. Brown of Disparti Law Group in Chicago.

Read more:

Feb 11, 2015 Waukegan pit bull shot by pet sitter

Waukegan - Romena Rhyan was pet sitting for a pit bull named Veyda when a neighbor's pit bull attacked it in her yard.  The attack moved into her house.  She warned the attacking pit bull's owner she was going to shoot it if he couldn't get it off.  He did the "ineffectual tapping of the mauling pit bull's head" that we see so often in videos of pit bulls mauling at the feet of their owners and it didn't work once again.  So Rhyan, who was legally armed, shot and killed the mauler at which time the mauling pit bull owner, standing in the blood, asked why she shot his dog.


In Waukegan, pit bulls invading homes and attacking dogs, and private citizens shooting and killing invading pit bulls in their home is evidently so common, it's not even news.  This story didn't make the news until shots were fired into Romena Rhyan's house a few days later, presumably in retaliation.  Two people have offered reward money for information about the shooter and Romena Rhyan now fears for her life and can't allow her grandchildren to come to her house anymore.

One of the people who offered a reward is Keith Turner, a local activist who loves motorcycles and guns and who might be the person who talked Romena Rhyan into getting a gun in the first place.  He probably failed to mention that other people have guns and will not always choose to use them legally when you piss them off with even legal and justified gunfire.  A break stick and a pit bull ban would have worked much better here.

In other Waukegan news, the Waukegan Police Animal Control's facebook page is nothing but a pit bull rescue.  And has a pit bull for a mascot, complete with police vest.

There's a big drama playing out in the comments section on the AC fb page.  Evidently the police arrested a man on Christmas Eve for selling backyard bred pit bull mixes called Olde English Bulldogges without a $25 license.  ARRESTED.  And they took the puppies from the mother.  And the rescue they gave them to immediately turned around and began selling them for $600 a pop.  WOW!  Soon Waukegan will be facing a lawsuit and people will be breeding pit mixes with impunity. Wait, they already are.

Read more:
Lake county News Sun
CBS Chicago

Related posts:
This 1946 posts shows that history repeats itself - people die fighting over their fighting pit bulls in Waukegan.

All posts labelled Waukegan which has had a pit bull problem since 1906 and city leaders have done nothing for over 100 years.

A few of the 100+ pit bulls shot in Illinois to stop an attack:
Dec 06, 2009 Cop Shoots Pit Bull That Attacked 5 People
Jun 04, 2008 Machesney Park Police shoot pit bulls savaging a pug


Feb 02, 2015 Champaign News Contributor Writes a Pit Bull Apology After Serious Pit Bull Attack

Champaign County - Noelle McGee wrote an apology for pit bulls in the aftermath of a horrendous attack on a county sheriff.  She begins by describing a horrendous pit bull attack to a mail carrier 9 years previous that left the mail carrier with horrible, permanent physical and psychological issues.
Look below at related posts and you will see that there have been some other ghastly attacks in Champaign county since this 2006 attack including two attacks on octogenarians.  McGee uses about 400 words to describe the attack.  Then she uses over 1,800 words to quote pro-pit bull myths by pit bull apologists.

"When Wendy Starkey heard about a Champaign County deputy's Jan. 7 attack by a pit bull, it immediately took her back eight years ago to her own horrifying experience.

Around 4:30 p.m. on Dec. 26, 2006, the Danville letter carrier was delivering mail in the 100 block of South Griffin Street, on the city's southeast side, when two pit bull-types bolted from a house across the street, knocked her on her back and started mauling her.

"They literally took turns shredding me to hell," Starkey said of the dogs, which later were declared vicious and put down.

"I kicked and fought and kicked and fought," she recalled of the attack, which lasted three to five minutes but seemed much longer. "Every time I grabbed for my mace, they'd bite my arm. Thank God it was cold that day. I had three layers of gear on."

And we find out that the two counties she looked at refuse to keep track of the breeds of dogs they impound and could only give estimates about how many pit bulls they impound each year.  Despite that, since bite reports are mandated by Illinois law to include breed, Vermillion county states that 40% of bite investigations were caused by pit bulls (50 of 123 in 2014).  Champaign county AC estimates that roughly a third of total dog bite investigations (923 in 2013, can't get 2014's figures together) involved pit bulls.  So, champaign county AC is not following the law by not recording breed information for bite investigations or couldn't be bothered to add those numbers up.

Note that is is how many dog bite investigations AC performed, not the total bites reported to the county health departments.

Read more:

Feb 01, 2015 Antioch Rescue Pit Bull Seriously Mauls his Owner; no media coverage

Antioch - This serious pit bull mauling never made the news.  The following account is from the family's gofundme page.  The pit bull named Zeus that attacked his owner was a rescue that the family had adopted only 7 or 8 months previously.

From the gofundme page:
What happens AFTER they bite the hand that feeds them! Superbowl Sunday events were winding down... our family had enjoyed the game from the comfort of our living room during the blizzard conditions that had moved into Chicagoland area.  School had already been cancelled for the next day so extended ending time of celebration for my son who's Patriots beat my husband's Seahawks!
This is the third known Illinois pit bull attack in which the
victim tried to use a pitchfork to stop the pit bull
Everybody was recounting moments of game and there were no volunteers to take the dog out.  So.... I got myself dressed in layers to keep the blowing snow away from freezing my little butt off.   I had it all on... turtleneck, hoodie sweatshirt, leggings, flannel pj pants, snowpants, ski jacket, gloves + boots!     I laughed at my resemblance to the stay-puff marshmellow man and thought it would NOT be fun to fall in this 12+ inches of snow and have to try to get back up.  Any hesitation from me was erased by our dog  "Zeus" who was quick to remind me that my mission was to get him outside.  I announced that we were headed out into the "blizzard" and stepped out into to frozen yard.  

The surreal quietness was only interrupted by wind gusts blowing snow from all directions.  The snow had buried almost everything in the yard but a small shallow area next to a huge drift.  Since no-one had been out during the game to shovel area for him to pee, we headed for the drift zone.  Zeus was jumping around in the snow after he finished going potty.  I clapped my hands together and said "OK buddy... Let's go back in!" 

I turned my back to him and started to walk to front of garage and driveway.  Without warning... Zeus came running from behind, jumped into air and clamped onto my left arm!! The impact initally propelled me face first into the fluffy but DEEP snow.  Zeus was tugging my arm and pulling me around yard thru snow and the release command was ineffective!!  He was in "attack frenzy" and continued to ratchet-down on my jacket and forearm.  As he was dragging me through the area behind garage I spotted my garden tools leaning against corner of building.  I was able to grab the pitchfork and tried to use it to stab him in face and mouth to force open.  Could not get him to let go... but did get him to re-position his grip repeatedly.

Reality check that I needed to SURVIVE!! He was tugging and dragging me in circles twisting my arm under my head.  His teeth were inches from my face as we twisted around in the now packed down blood-spotted snow behind the garage.  He stopped pulling for a moment and I realized that I could get away IF I could get out of my jacket! I managed to unzip jacket with my right hand and used my teeth to pull end of sleeve to free right arm.

He started to drag me again and pulled me past the lawnmower that was frozen into snow at side of garage.  I reached pipe framework handle and pulled myself into cage to provide some leverage and anchor me while I continued to try to pull my left arm free of the sleeve!  He continued to open jaws only to almost instantly bite down again and again.  I felt urgency in getting hand out and pulled back as lawnmower was tipping over. I felt pressure release in wrist then jacket was off!  I sat frozen, afraid to move while I looked up to see where dog was.  He had my jacket (still by sleeve) and was bouncing around the yard with it.  I slowly managed to manuever myself into sitting position and deceided that I needed to carefully stand and get into driveway then get into car until someone comes out to find me.

Then a voice cuts through silence... my husband Jeff walked around front edge of garage  "What is taking so long?"  I shouted that Zeus had attacked me.  He asked "what are you talking about?" as he rushed to me and I lifted my arms to reveal my blood-soaked sleeve to hold him while he scooped me up to carry me into house!  I told him "It's bad! We need an ambulance!!" I knew I was in shock already... the attack had lasted 20-30 min!


The next hour was insane... 911 call in a blizzard!  Paramedics arrived and immediately stressed urgency to transport! Multiple lacerations without bleeding and grey-blue fingers primary concern.  IV started in good arm for administration shock fluids and pain meds.  ambulance driver amazingly gets thru blizzard to Condell Hospital.  Emergency staff / x rays / surgery / pins to repair fracture / 47 surface stitches / able to save hand.  Rececks / suture removal / pin removal / physical therapy... PAIN!! It's been more than a month and this personal caregiver has STILL NOT BEEN RELEASED TO RETURN TO WORK! I cannot use my left hand yet...  complete regained function is questionable.  I have been vital part of our family's financial survival and now am in need of an angel or two.  Mounting medical bills and income replacement necessary for our family.  Please help!






Read more: