An elderly Louisiana woman was partially eaten by her neighbor’s dogs after falling in the driveway.
The unidentified woman was walking in her driveway on Randall Avenue in Livingston Parish on Tuesday when she fell, neighbor Randall Averette told WBRZ.
As she tried to get back up, her neighbors’ dogs attacked her, he said.
“When I went there, she was on the ground with paramedics bandaging her,” said Averette, who described her injuries as “graphic.”
“The paramedics said she was badly mauled around her calf, her right leg was bitten, her arm was bitten and the dog bit her on the back of the neck.”
A Louisiana woman was seriously injured Tuesday after being attacked by her neighbor’s dogs
The unidentified woman was walking in her driveway on Randall Avenue in Livingston Parish on Tuesday when she fell
Another neighbor also said she witnessed the dog attack and called 911 as soon as she saw the woman on the ground.
“She had to stand there and look at it,” said the neighbor’s daughter, Cheryl Boudreaux. “She said, ‘You guys have to hurry up and get over here. Hurry up and get over here. They’re going to eat this woman.’
“Then Mom said the lady wasn’t moving and Mom thought she was dead.”
The woman was instead taken to a local hospital. Her condition remains unclear.
Meanwhile, Maria Vincent has been arrested and charged with negligent injury and failure to release dogs for the actions of her pets.
“You can be sued for negligent injuries and you can be sued by these homeowners for medical bills,” Livingston Parish Sheriff Jason Ard warned other dog owners.
“It’s going to come back to bite you, that’s what’s going to happen.”
Livingston Parish Sheriff Jason Ard warned that irresponsible dog owners could be charged with negligence
But Ard noted that this wasn’t the first time Vincent’s dogs attacked a person. She said she had been cited before for a past incident where one of the canines bit someone.
Unfortunately, in that case, researchers were unable to determine which dog was involved.
“She’s already been through the system, she’s been fined,” Ard said of the dog owner. “Here we are again, same dog, same situation.
“Now that someone is seriously injured, something has to change.”
Bourdeaux also claimed that her mother had been bitten twice by the same dogs, but was afraid to say anything.
“My mother is 85 years old and both times she needed medical attention,” said the concerned daughter.
All three of Maria Vincent’s dogs were taken to the Livingston Parish Animal Control Center on Wednesday
She argued that it wasn’t right that multiple people had to be hurt for something to change.
“We’re just furious, you know, because we don’t understand why it had to come to this,” she told the news station.
“They finally got the dogs away, that’s the first time.”
Ard also confirmed that all three dogs were taken to the Livingston Parish Animal Control Center on Wednesday and said the owner surrendered two of them.
The fate of the surrendered dogs remains unclear.
But Ard said people should protect themselves if they come face to face with a dangerous dog.
“You do what you think is necessary,” Ard suggested. ‘You have the right to protect yourself, your property and your children.’