Police have arrested two men they say are responsible for the two pitbull-mix dogs that severely mauled an animal service officer this morning.
San Jose residents, Lorenzo Garcia, 27, and Jesus Guzman, 29, were arrested under a California law that applies to owners or caretakers who let their dogs out of custody, resulting in great harm or death, police spokesman Sgt. Ronnie Lopez said. He could not provide additional details on the suspects' specific ownership of the dogs.
The attack happened at about 7 a.m., after the dogs broke out of a nearby home and made their way to a house in the 2300 block of Pentland Way, Lopez said. The homeowner called police to report a vicious animal and police responded, along with a city animal care officer.
The animal care officer entered the home's backyard to try and contain the dogs, according to police, and both dogs attacked her. A police officer shot and killed one dog and wounded the other while attempting to rescue her.
San Jose animal care spokeswoman Julie St. Gregory said the second dog was euthanized this afternoon. The dogs were a mix of pitbull and American bulldog, named Chief and Sharky. Both were males and neither was neutered, she said.
"This is all due to irresponsible owners," she said. "If you're going to get these dogs you need to neuter them, you need to train them and you need to keep them confined. They can be dangerous."
The city received six complaints about the dogs last year, and cited the owner five times before today, St. Gregory said.
The animal service officer suffered nine bites, some of them very severe. She returned home this afternoon with many stitches, St. Gregory said.
San Jose fire Capt. Barry Stallard said the dogs were extremely aggressive, and officers had to fire 11 rounds before they were incapacitated.
The dogs bit the officer in the arms, legs, buttocks and hips before they were controlled, Stallard said. The officer was taken to a hospital and will require surgery, he said. While the dogs took a sizeable chunk of flesh out of the officer's right arm, Stallard was relieved that the dogs did not bite her face or neck.
"She was fighting them, kicking them, trying to fight them with her baton," he said.
The homeowner told officers he usually keeps the glass sliding door to the backyard open in the mornings, but it happened to be closed today, Stallard said.
"He was about to feed his 6- and 8-year-old kids breakfast and those dogs were jumping against the sliding door," Stallard said.
Those kids would have been torn to pieces," he said.
Bay City News
