Woman’s fatal mauling a shock to all — but for many in South Dallas, not entirely a surprise

A South Dallas woman’s fatal mauling by a pack of dogs earlier this month was shocking to all. But for many, it wasn’t entirely surprising.
In parts of this city, mostly in the south, the threat from dogs is as common as the sight of burglar bars and weed-choked vacant lots. Dogs trot down the middle of streets, eyeball strangers, bloody each other during scuffles – and occasionally clash with humans.
“Getting bit here is like getting shot in the projects,” said Rodney Choice, who lives in East Oak Cliff.
Choice, who has never been bitten, said he doesn’t live in fear. But he does take the danger seriously enough to keeps bricks and sticks stashed around his yard for protection. Others in neighborhoods with the worst dog problems carry sticks or golf clubs while on walks or pack a knife for protection.
For Antoinette Brown, safety took the form of a vacant house rather than a weapon. She was just steps away from climbing through a window May 2 when dogs attacked and bit her more than 100 times. The 52-year-old died a week later.
Police believed the dogs lived at a house where neighbors had called at least 11 times to complain about loose or threatening dogs. The owners previously surrendered their problem dogs, only to get more.
Brown’s case is the most recent tragedy but just a hint of the problems that extend far beyond that empty house on Rutledge Street in the Fair Park area, a mix of strays and dogs left uncontrolled by their owners.
“Fifty percent is stray and the other 50 percent is people who don’t give a damn,” Choice said.
Pets break their chains or escape through poorly maintained fences, while strays – especially those that avoid human contact – thrive in vacant lots, boarded-up homes or alleyways overgrown with grass. Many wander mostly at night, during early mornings or in midday hours when people are at work.
In southeast Dallas, Luz Maria Rios and her Yorkie were attacked by two dogs that got loose and charged her on a neighbor’s doorstep. In West Oak Cliff, an 88-year-old woman was bitten on the leg while walking home from a neighbor’s house in February. And not far away, Karina Padilla said her aunt, who is in her 70s and has diabetes, was bitten by a neighbor’s frequently loose pit bull while in town on a visit from Mexico.
In East Oak Cliff, Sheritha Brown – no relation to the mauling victim – said she had to shoo dogs away from an elderly neighbor who was riding an electric wheelchair to a nearby pharmacy. And in Elmwood, Elizabet Hernandez said she won’t walk her own pets in the area anymore after being attacked by dogs two weeks ago near Elmwood Parkway.
“If you’re a South Dallas resident, there isn’t a day that goes by without seeing stray dogs in the area,” Hernandez said.

Luz Maria Rios shows stitches on her left arm received after being attacked by two dogs while walking her Yorkie. She was injured on her left arm and leg. (Ashley Landis/The Dallas Morning News)

Rios, of southeast Dallas, said she had been walking Leo, her Yorkie, around her neighborhood last month when she saw two dogs barking and trying to get out from behind her neighbor’s fence. She sped up to avoid a confrontation, she said, but the dogs escaped.
She ran to another neighbor’s doorstep to knock for help. No one answered, she said, and the dogs attacked.
Rios teared up as she recalled how she held her 8-pound pet above her head as the two dogs bit and scratched her relentlessly. Her home was just a few houses away, but she said she could not get there in time. “I can’t believe I’m alive,” she said.
Eventually, she said, the dogs’ owner came out and held them back. A stranger had to drive her home, she said, because she couldn’t walk.
By the next week, she said, Dallas Animal Services had taken the dogs away and her neighbor’s broken fence had been fixed. But with thick stitches tying together several-inch-long gashes across her thigh and arm, Rios was still at home recuperating, unable to return to her job cleaning houses.
In the Red Bird area, Michelle Johnson said a neighbors’ pit bull, named Bluebell, would often break its chain and escape through unrepaired holes in the fence, threatening people and attacking other dogs. The owners — who have since moved away — were mostly indifferent, she said.
Last year, Johnsons said Bluebell charged her daughter – then 8-months pregnant – and 4-year-old granddaughter. Using her cane as a weapon, Johnson said she was able to give the two enough time to get into their car. The dog backed off for a minute, she said, but then charged again.
“It doesn’t matter how many times you hit her,” she said. “She’s going to come at you again.”
Early this year, she said, Bluebell jumped into the back yard where her granddaughters were playing. Though she’d sometimes call 911 about Bluebell, the dog was usually back in its yard by the time authorities arrived.
“The police told me to shoot it if it came over the fence again,” Johnson said.

Michelle Johnson poses with her 10 yr-old schnauzer, Roxy, in the backyard of her Dallas home. Johnson had to fend off a charging pit bull with her cane to let her visiting pregnant daughter and granddaughter safely get to their car. (Tom Fox/The Dallas Morning News)

Some blame irresponsible dog ownership and lax enforcement for the problem, as well as people’s fascination with dogs that have fearsome reputations.
“They all have [expletive] pit bulls,” Brown said of young men in her East Oak Cliff neighborhood. “They walk down the sidewalk like they own the street.”
Though she hasn’t yet been bitten, her father has, she said; he now carries a knife.
Brown said one local pit bull runs straight to her house when he gets outside, which is particularly scary when Brown’s grandchildren are visiting. When the owners insist that the dog won’t do anything while they are outside with him, “We don’t know that,” Brown tells them. “Your pit bull don’t know my grandkids. My grandkids are all under five, so keep him over there.”
While the majority of strays and loose dogs aren’t aggressive, no one takes anything for granted.
At Kiest Park, in Central Oak Cliff, “stray dogs are just straight-up lounging there,” said Elizabet Hernandez, who works in admissions and alumni relations at Bishop Dunne Catholic School. “You’ll see people walking there with giant sticks.”
In South Dallas, Alisia Lambert, whose home sits on a road behind Lincoln High, said the strays appear at night.
“They’re all up and down this street,” Lambert said. “Looks like some of them have manes, hair falling off them and stuff.”
Once, a stray got into her back yard, where she had her pit bull Diamond chained up. The fracas resulted in her dog breaking loose and chasing the stray into the street.
“She chewed him up,” Lambert said. “And they took my dog away. I had her spayed and everything.”
She couldn’t afford the several hundred dollars it took to get Diamond back, and she never saw her again.

Luz Maria Rios and her Yorkie, Leo, who were attacked last month by two dogs that escaped a neighbors’ yard. (Ashley Landis/The Dallas Morning News)

Special education specialist Carla Adkins, who lives with her husband in Elmwood, has taken in many strays over the years and tried to find them homes, while neighbors neither admit to owning the loose pets nor do anything about them besides offering the occasional snack.
“I have caught more dogs than I can count in my front yard,” Adkins said. “We’ve tried to make a rule that we’re not going to pick up any more fosters. But I’ve still had half a dozen since September.”
Hernandez said raising the number of animal-control officers won’t work until residents stop thinking about dogs as disposable and understand the importance of spaying and neutering.
“These people are going to keep bringing dogs in,” Hernandez said. “They buy them off Craigslist and have them for a month and once the cuteness has worn off, they’re on the streets. For every aggressive dog, there are 20 I see that are injured or starving, just roaming the streets trying to survive.”
In Red Bird, darkening drops of blood linger on Brenda Robinson’s front porch. This month, while watching TV with her daughter, she heard a racket on the side of her house; when she went out to check, an injured puppy wandered from around the corner and into her front yard, having been attacked by another dog.
“She was just bleeding out,” Robinson said. “I still have blood in my bedroom.”
She wrapped the dog in a towel and cleaned her up. Then she took the puppy to the animal shelter, hoping she could find a home.