New London woman whose dogs allegedly attacked a German shepherd issued infractions
New London — Police on Thursday issued multiple infractions to a New London woman after two of her dogs allegedly attacked another dog Wednesday, resulting in the injured animal receiving care at two separate animal hospitals.
Patricia Harris, 37, of 152 Plant St. was charged Thursday with two counts of having a nuisance dog and two counts of having a dog roaming at large.
Capt. Brian Wright said police received multiple calls Wednesday regarding a dog fight at Toby May Park. The first call came in at 2:02 p.m.
Andrew Aspinwall, the New London resident who owns the dog that was attacked — Hans Lake, a six-and-a-half year old German shepherd — said on Friday that his dog just got out of surgery with a specialist at a Rhode Island animal hospital.
"So far, so good," Aspinwall said when asked how Hans is doing.
His Wednesday walk with Hans began ordinarily enough, Aspinwall said, explaining that he often takes the dog on a walk to the park.
"All of sudden, down by the ballpark, two dogs — a gray pit bull and a red pit bull — jumped out, jumped over the wall and grabbed on to my dog," he said.
When one of the pit bulls attempted to bite Aspinwall, Aspinwall said, Hans turned to that dog, exposing its neck to the other pit bull, which then grabbed on to it.
The first pit bull then grabbed one of Hans' arms, Aspinwall said.
"I was screaming for help," he said, explaining that two of his Plant Street neighbors came over with a thick stick and helped free Hans from the pit bulls' grip.
Even as he and Hans ran from the scene, Aspinwall said, the red pit bull continued to chase them.
"I don't even know who they are, but these wonderful people started beeping their horns," he said. "That's when the dog stopped."
Aspinwall said he got Hans in his car and took the dog to the VCA New London Animal Hospital — located at 122 Cross Road in Waterford — where it underwent emergency surgery to close up its wounds.
"He was bitten so badly there was a tooth mark in the bone," he said.
Aspinwall said he took Hans to the Rhode Island hospital Thursday because the dog's muscle was torn so badly a specialist was needed to fix it.
"It wasn't a dog fight; it was a dog attacked by pit bulls," he said. "I'm up to over $6,000 worth of vet bills. Hopefully (the dogs' owner) will step up and help me."
Wright, who said the attacking dogs' owner was not present when police arrived at Toby May Park, said someone saw one of the dogs leave the scene and followed it to Harris' Plant Street address.
Wright didn't clarify who that person was.
Wright couldn't verify what types of breeds were involved in the attack, but he said all three dogs were licensed and up to par on vaccinations.
Harris is scheduled to appear in court Feb. 4.
Twitter: @LindsayABoyle
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