{"id":21481,"date":"2014-04-04T12:38:44","date_gmt":"2014-04-04T16:38:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/?p=21481"},"modified":"2014-04-04T12:39:12","modified_gmt":"2014-04-04T16:39:12","slug":"dog-attack-spurs-citations-possible-policy-shift","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/?p=21481","title":{"rendered":"Dog attack spurs citations, possible policy shift"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sheriff to commend deputy for restraint; pet\u2019s owner to be cited for lack of it<\/em><\/span><\/h1>\n
\n

By Kathleen Brady Shea<\/strong>,\u00a0Managing Editor, The Times<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"Cpl.<\/a>

Cpl. Kurt Hansen<\/p><\/div>\n

A deputy sheriff attempting to serve civil papers didn\u2019t have a lot of time to react on Wednesday, April 2, when a Great Pyrenees mountain dog lunged, initially biting him in the arm.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

In his report of the incident, Cpl. Kurt Hansen said he had seen \u201cno trespassing\u201d and \u201cbeware of dog\u201d signs on the leafy driveway leading up to the Glenmoore home; as a result, he had beeped his horn to let the owners know of his presence, hoping that someone would come out in response.\u00a0 He said that he had also seen a young child playing on the back deck.<\/p>\n

When no one appeared at the door, Hansen wrote that he was headed to the area where he had seen the child when he suddenly heard barking and saw the 100-pound-plus dog barreling toward him. Too far from his vehicle to take cover, Hansen said as the dog bit into the inside of his left arm, he drew his gun. But he didn\u2019t want to shoot someone\u2019s pet, and he was able to push the dog away temporarily with his left hand as a woman exited the house, the report said.<\/p>\n

Hansen yelled for her to call off the dog because he didn\u2019t want to fire, but the dog was on him again. Hansen said he managed to grab the dog by the throat while pinning it to the ground. In the process, the dog inflicted two more bites, this time to Hansen\u2019s left lower leg. Once the owner regained control of the dog, Hansen \u2013 with bleeding wounds and a muddy, torn uniform \u2013 quickly explained his mission, handed the papers to the resident, and then drove himself to the hospital, the report said.<\/p>\n

Chester County Sheriff Carolyn \u201cBunny\u201d Welsh said Hansen spent several hours in Chester County Hospital\u2019s Emergency Room, where he was given instructions to follow up with his family doctor. Welsh said Hansen was told that the puncture wounds need to heal on their own, but he needs to guard against infection. She said she and her staff were amazed when he showed up for work the next day. \u201cI told him I thought he would take a couple of days off to recuperate,\u201d she said, adding that he said it wasn\u2019t necessary.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe showed tremendous restraint,\u201d she said. \u201cIt could have been a very different outcome \u2013 and a tragedy for the family.\u201d<\/p>\n

Welsh said the incident underscores the risks the deputies face on any given day. \u201cIt\u2019s like a police officer doing a traffic stop,\u201d she said. \u201cYou never know what\u2019s going to be inside that car. It\u2019s always the danger of the unknown.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said the episode marked the second encounter with a charging animal in the last few months for a member of her office. In the earlier case, a deputy used pepper spray to subdue a dog. Because the spray can sometimes blow back and injure the deputy, she said she planned to revisit the issue of Tasers. \u201cWe\u2019ve talked about it before, but I didn\u2019t think it was needed,\u201d she said. \u201cIt may be time to reconsider it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Welsh said Hansen reported the encounter to the Chester County SPCA on Thursday, April 3, and the dog owners will be cited for not having control of the dog. Welsh said Hansen would also be cited: for his professionalism and self-control under difficult \u2013 and painful \u2013 circumstances.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sheriff to commend deputy for restraint; pet\u2019s owner to be cited for lack of it By Kathleen Brady Shea,\u00a0Managing Editor, The Times A deputy sheriff attempting to serve civil papers didn\u2019t have a lot of time to react on Wednesday, April 2, when a Great Pyrenees mountain dog lunged, initially biting him in the arm. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":21482,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,7],"tags":[4221,5289,5290],"class_list":["post-21481","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-featured","tag-chester-county-sheriff-carolyn-bunny-welsh","tag-cpl-kurt-hansen","tag-taser"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21481","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21481"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21481\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/21482"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21481"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21481"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21481"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}