In an incident that got national media attention, Giant, a male pit bull who lived in a luxury apartment in uptown Hoboken, mauled three people just before midnight on Thursday, Feb. 4, sending them to Jersey City Hospital and bloodying the apartment. The dog was then shot and killed by police.
Some residents are wondering why the pit bull attacked in the first place, and whether steps could have been taken to prevent the attack.
She stepped into the apartment and, seeing blood all over the walls, screamed.
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Victim No. 1
The following is what happened, according to the reports that were turned in:
The first biting incident happened after midnight, when a Hoboken man, Victim 1, a roommate of the woman who owns Giant, reported that he had been bitten.
The Hoboken Volunteer Ambulance Corps arrived at the scene first and began examining Victim 1.
Police officers Nicholas DeTrizio and John Hermann then arrived along with Port Authority Police Sgt. Kevin Cottrell. Cottrell advised officers that the Port Authority Emergency Service Unit was on the way.
Police reports claim Victim 1, who police said had a “strong odor of alcoholic beverages on his breath” when they questioned him, had been bitten on the ankle as soon as he returned home to the apartment at an “unknown time.” The owner was apparently not home.
The man told police he pushed Giant away and left the apartment. Victim 1 was the least injured of the three victims, with only a laceration on his ankle.
(On Jan. 29, one week earlier, Victim 1 had reported to police that Giant had attacked him, though not severely. He told police that he had been disciplining the dog when it bit him. The dog’s owner later told police that Giant had bitten another dog at a local dog park recently as well, but this incident was not reported.)
As Victim 1 was being attended to by emergency responders, officers observed a large unleashed female pit bull – later identified as Lulu – roaming around the lobby of the building, “barking and growling in an aggressive manner,” DiTrizio said in his report. Lulu was later found to be owned by a Massachusetts man who may have been living in the apartment, as he told police he could be contacted on Victim 1’s phone.
Victim No. 2
Lulu was soon followed by Giant into the hallway. Police said that Giant had blood on his face and hindquarters. The two dogs walked around in the lobby for a short time while police tried to secure motion-sensored doors in the lobby.
A woman claiming to be Giant’s owner allegedly “raced toward and into the building” ignoring warnings from police. The woman, who became Victim 2, later told police she had been at a local bar all night.
She slipped past the officers and they did not follow her. Moments later, police heard screams for help. Giant had attacked the owner, police said. Police said they could see her from outside a first-floor window being “bitten severely in the lower extremities” by the dog.
Two other officers, Johnathan Mecka and Daniel Chorino, were now on the scene and headed into the apartment with Cottrell after the other officers removed the window. An advanced-life support ambulance was called to the scene.
The officers beat the dog off of Victim 2, and once they had Giant “semi-secured” with a few pieces of furniture, they carried the woman out the window to safety. Hoboken Police Sgt. Edmond Drishti arrived at the scene.
Victim No. 3
Officers had the dog somewhat pinned near the front door of the apartment, and began to exit the dangerous situation through the window. Once they were outside, a woman who lived elsewhere in Hoboken, Victim 3, opened the door to the apartment and began to walk in, for some reason. Police immediately screamed from the window for her not to enter, but she stepped into the apartment and, seeing blood all over the walls, screamed.
Giant jumped his temporary barricade and viciously attacked the woman, according to police, as police again rushed into the apartment through the window. Chorino, Mecka, Cottrell, and Drishti entered and began beating the dog on the head, trying to pin him against a wall and remove the victim, according to the police reports.
The shooting
With Victim 3 finally pulled away from the still-raging pit bull, Drishti realized the severity of the circumstances and told officers to clear the hallway outside the door so he could shoot the dog in the head.
Detectives found that he discharged one bullet – through an air mattress that police were using to restrain the dog – and it killed Giant instantly.
Both Victim 2 and Victim 3 were rushed to Jersey City Medical Center. Victim 2 had a large laceration on her right thigh, a cut on her left leg above the ankle, and a cut on her wrist.
Victim 3, who sustained the most severe injuries, was rushed into emergency.
Dr. Yogesh Ahuja, who cared for the woman, told police that the majority of her injuries were to the “soft tissue on her legs,” but that she had lost “a significant amount of blood.”
No summons
A representative of the Associated Newark Humane Society in Newark, which handles animal control for Hoboken, arrived on the scene and removed the dog’s body. They also tranquilized Lulu so that they could transport her back to Newark since police had not yet found out who her owner was. Unfortunately, Lulu died from the tranquilizer.
Police believe there were no crimes committed in the incident and have no ongoing investigation.
On Friday, Police Chief Anthony Falco commended his officers, and said the only situation in which police may charge a person with a crime involving a dog attack is if the owner is accused of ordering the dog to attack.
When a dog attack is reported to the city, the Health Department investigates the incident and considers its options under the N.J. Vicious Dog Act.
Hoboken Health Officer Frank Sasso said the act allows the city to prosecute if “serious bodily injury” is found in an “unprovoked attack.” When this is the case, the city’s animal control officer impounds the canine and the owner is summoned to municipal court to defend the life of the dog.
If the dog is deemed “vicious” by the court, it is euthanized. If the dog is only deemed “potentially dangerous” by the court, Sasso said, it is tattooed with state tracking number and required to have special insurance. The owner is required to conform to enclosure limitations and to post a sign on the door of the building in which the dog lives stating it is potentially dangerous.
Sasso said the last time a dog owner was prosecuted was in 1996, when a pit bull/boxer mixed breed attacked an elderly woman. The dog was found to be vicious and sentenced to death in a Hoboken court, but the owner won an appeal that instead only deemed the dog to be potentially dangerous.
City health officials said they saw no reason to issue summonses for not registering the dogs in the case of Giant and Lulu since both dogs are now deceased. Both dogs were checked for rabies posthumously; both did not have it.
If you are the victim of a dog bite, Sasso said to seek medical attention, immediately wash the wound with hot water and soap, and then notify the city’s Board of Health at (201) 420-2375.
Timothy J. Carroll may be reached at tcarroll@hudsonreporter.com.