Anderson Law Firm

Pit Bulls Responsible for Attack on a Fort Worth Family to be Euthanized

A few weeks ago, we posted about the vicious dog attack that happened to Alisa and Gary Latimer and their 6-month-old son in Fort Worth. Well today, those dangerous dogs, Mimi and King, will be euthanized by a municipal judge's order.

If you remember, in late July, the Latimer family was waiting outside a bus stop on the 5500 block of Wellesley Avenue in Fort Worth when two pit bulls began to snap, lunge and growl at their infant son. As the dogs began to get more aggressive, Gary Latimer distracted the K9s and was able to protect his family by offering his own body. Luckily, Gary carried a knife with him and used it to fend off the dogs when one of them, King, latched on to his arm. Gary Latimer suffered a severe bite to the arm and had to get several stitches.

What makes this story different than a lot of dog bite accidents is that one of these dogs, Mimi, has bitten people before and that the owner of the pit bulls has been cited by the city for his animals three times! Last year when Mimi attacked an 84-year-old man, a judge ruled that Mimi was dangerous and should be put down. But Mimi's owner, Steven Woods, made a plea to save the dog's life and got national attention after he claimed Mimi was his service dog helping him to overcome injuries he suffered while serving in Iraq. Woods collected thousands of dollars in donations from people around the country to pay for the attorney that saved Mimi's life.  Turns out Woods was lying the entire time. Mimi wasn't a service dog and Woods never got hurt in Iraq because he had never been to Iraq! He's a fraud!

So today, two dogs will be put down because of their owner's neglectful care. Pit bulls can be loving and kind dogs, but they must be trained and raised by owners that know what they're doing. Not by owners like Woods, who's negligent care of his animals only perpetuates the stereotype that pit bulls are a bad breed.

Mimi and King are obviously dangerous to people, no question there. But as an owner of three dogs and personal injury attorney, I wish there was more we could do to punish Steven Woods. My experience as a dog bite accident lawyer tells me that Woods not only could face a civil claim, since he had to take out liability insurance in order to keep Mimi, but also felony charges for allowing his animals to hurt more people. I hope justice will be done and he never gets to own another pit bull again.