A Roanoke County woman faces charges after her dog attacked a neighbor in the Glenvar area.
Tiffany Lynn Turner, 37, was arrested Monday on a felony charge of allowing an animal attack that resulted from the owner’s reckless disregard for human life.
Turner is also charged with two misdemeanor counts of permitting a dog to run at large and two misdemeanor counts of harboring a nuisance animal.
On Friday morning, a woman in her late 60s to early 70s was walking her dog in the area of Ingal Boulevard and Polly Circle, west of Salem, when she was attacked by a pit bull.
“It just went after her like a missile,” said Jonathan Ayers, whose doorbell camera captured the incident.
Responding police officers had difficulty stopping the attack. After first running the pit bull off by shocking it with a taser, police shot and killed the dog a short time later when it returned, authorities said.
The victim, who was not identified, remained in the hospital Tuesday and was listed in stable condition, according to a news release from Roanoke County.
At least two other people say they were injured by the same dog in earlier encounters. But following a review of the two reported dog bites, animal control officers determined that no charges could be brought under state law, county spokeswoman Amy Whittaker said.
In both instances, the incidents happened on the owner’s property, the dog was quarantined, and the Virginia Department of Health was notified, Whittaker wrote in an email.
Roanoke County’s dog ordinance, under which Turner’s misdemeanor charges are based, allows dogs to be loose as long as they remain on their owner’s property, or other property with permission. Dogs are required to be on a leash in county parks.
A dog can be declared a nuisance animal if it endangers the life or health of other animals or people, unreasonably annoys humans or substantially interferes with the rights of citizens, the ordinance states.
Turner was being held without bond Tuesday in the Western Virginia Regional Jail. She is scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday, and a bond hearing is tentatively set for Thursday.
Ayers said he has turned over the video captured by his doorbell camera – which shows the attack from some distance away – to Roanoke County police. Police are encouraging anyone with additional information to call Sgt. E. Hubble at 540-777-8606.
One of Ayers’ neighbors, Brian Hill, fired a shot in an effort to scare the pit bull away. Hill, 52, has been charged with possession of a firearm as a convicted felon and reckless handling of a firearm.
“I know the law is the law,” Ayers said. “But Brian was the only person who went out to try to help this lady, and he gets charged.”
Laurence Hammack (540) 981-3239
laurence.hammack@roanoke.com
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