FLORIDA -- Devardis Givens of St. Augustine hopes St. Johns County will spare his dog after animal control officers and witnesses said it bit two people within half an hour on Monday.
But the reality is that Oz the pit bull mix is likely to be euthanized after being taken from his home, which faces the St. Augustine High School athletic fields and bus loading zone.
“Ours is not a vicious dog,” Givens said Tuesday. “We have kids in the house with us, small babies, and they hand-feed him. If this dog was out to do some serious attacks … no one would have been able to get him off (the victim).”
But the reality is that Oz the pit bull mix is likely to be euthanized after being taken from his home, which faces the St. Augustine High School athletic fields and bus loading zone.
“Ours is not a vicious dog,” Givens said Tuesday. “We have kids in the house with us, small babies, and they hand-feed him. If this dog was out to do some serious attacks … no one would have been able to get him off (the victim).”
He claims that the dog never left the yard of his green-colored home in the 600 block of Del Monte Drive.
Instead, he said, both victims got attacked because they were in Givens’ driveway. Both victims received puncture wounds that were not life-threatening.
He said the female victim, Patricia Harriett Lloyd, 57, was in his driveway and had been trying to inform him the dog was loose when the dog attacked. And he said the other victim, Charles Leroy Killian, 22, was helping Lloyd after she was attacked, and that’s when he got hurt.
But Lloyd said she was riding her bike in the neighborhood when the dog attacked, and that she came back to ask the owner if the dog was up to date on its rabies shots.
He said the female victim, Patricia Harriett Lloyd, 57, was in his driveway and had been trying to inform him the dog was loose when the dog attacked. And he said the other victim, Charles Leroy Killian, 22, was helping Lloyd after she was attacked, and that’s when he got hurt.
But Lloyd said she was riding her bike in the neighborhood when the dog attacked, and that she came back to ask the owner if the dog was up to date on its rabies shots.
Killian and animal control officials said Killian was attacked a half- hour or so earlier than Lloyd as he checked the mail at his home across the street.
Paul Studivant, St. Johns County Animal Control division chief, said St. Johns County Fire Rescue units were on the way to help Killian when Lloyd was attacked.
But he was not unsympathetic to Givens’ reaction.
Paul Studivant, St. Johns County Animal Control division chief, said St. Johns County Fire Rescue units were on the way to help Killian when Lloyd was attacked.
But he was not unsympathetic to Givens’ reaction.
“Most pet owners don’t want to believe an animal is capable of doing what it does,” Studivant said.
But the dog was obviously dangerous, he said. To back up his argument, he reviewed the video taken by photojournalist Phillip Whitley that captures the dog attacking Lloyd.
But the dog was obviously dangerous, he said. To back up his argument, he reviewed the video taken by photojournalist Phillip Whitley that captures the dog attacking Lloyd.
The unedited video — Givens saw only an edited version — shows the dog bounding out of a ditch to attack Lloyd, indicating the dog had been loose.
Studivant said Monday that he planned to recommend that the dog be euthanized.
But he said the dog was safe for now and nothing would be done without finishing an investigation, holding a hearing and giving the owner due process.
“We’re going to give him the chance to write his affidavits,” Studivant said.
Studivant said Monday that he planned to recommend that the dog be euthanized.
But he said the dog was safe for now and nothing would be done without finishing an investigation, holding a hearing and giving the owner due process.
“We’re going to give him the chance to write his affidavits,” Studivant said.
If the dog was deemed dangerous “for destruction,” Studivant said Givens could challenge that decision through a mediator.
He said animal control officers visited Givens at his house Tuesday, attempting to give him two tickets — one for each victim — requiring Givens to be in court, each carrying a minimum fine of $250.
Studivant said Givens became uncooperative and left in his car without accepting the tickets.
(St Augustine - Nov 30, 2011)
