Personal Injury Law

90 Year OId Staten Island Man Mauled By Neighbor's Pit Bulls

By Mark Siesel, Esq.

90 year old Henry S. Piotrowski of Staten Island was mauled by two pit bulls in his yard earlier this month, causing severe injuries which required doctors at Richmond Hospital to amputate one leg. The two male pit bulls were apparently owned by Mr. Piotrowski's neighbor, and managed to get into the yard through a fence which separated Mr. Piotrowski's house from the dog owner's residence. Another neighbor, Reginald Bell, stopped the pit bull attack by scaring the dogs off with a butcher knife. He described the attack as like "lions attacking a gazelle." The dogs were found by police around the corner, corralled, and taken to a Brooklyn shelter, where they were euthanized.

Under New York State law, a dog owner will be found legally responsible if he or she knew or should have known of the "vicious propensities" of their dog. Generally speaking, Pit Bulls are frequently believed to be dangerous by a large segment of the public, but the law does require that the dog owner have prior knowledge that the dog was dangerous (through prior bites or menacing) before they will be held legally responsible.

Full post as published by New York Legal Blog on July 18, 2008 (boomark / email).