The owner of two dogs had been warned that her pets were dangerous and ordered to muzzle and securely fence them before they broke loose last summer from a backyard in West Baltimore.
The dogs, Moe and Prince, fatally mauled a woman in Mondawmin who was walking to the store. They attacked and wounded another bystander, as well as a man who tried to intervene.
Baltimore Police have identified Camree Hickerson, 32, of Arbutus, as the owner of the dogs. She was arrested this week and charged with involuntary manslaughter. The charge carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.
Hickerson remains in jail, and her bail review hearing on Friday afternoon was postponed to next week. An assistant public defender at Friday’s bail reviews did not address her case.
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Fatal dog attacks are rare, on average 43 deaths per year in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The fatal attack on 54-year-old Shelia Jones last summer left neighbors in West Baltimore shaken and fearful that dogs were being bred and trained for fighting
Police have not accused Hickerson of participating in dogfighting.
In charging documents, detectives labeled her two dogs as “pit bulls,” which is not a specific breed but an umbrella term generally applied to dogs of varying breeds with muscular bodies and broad heads. People and nonprofit groups that rescue these types of dogs have long sought to combat stereotypes that “pit bulls” are aggressive.
In the days after Jones was killed, her daughter, “Pony,” told WBAL-TV that her initial anger had lessened.
“I don’t want anyone to be put in jail,” she said.
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Before the attack, in May, Hickerson had appeared before animal control authorities for a hearing related to past incidents that involved her dogs, detectives wrote in charging documents. Her pets were classified as “dangerous dogs” by the administrative board, but Hickerson was not ordered to euthanize them, detectives wrote.
“However, the owner was ordered to engage in corrective actions such as additional restraints and confinement,” detectives wrote. “Specifically, the pit bulls were required to be muzzled with a basket muzzle when outside of the home and that the yard must be adequately fenced to restrain the dogs from the public.”
Additional information from the animal control hearing was not available Friday. The city Health Department oversees animal control and a spokeswoman said The Banner would have to submit a request under the Maryland Public Information Act for records from the hearing.
About a month after the May hearing, Hickerson had left the two dogs in the backyard of a home on Ridgehill Avenue in Mondawmin. Police wrote that she did not live there or have permission to keep her dogs there.
The dogs escaped from the yard and shortly before 9 p.m. fatally attacked Jones around the corner. Police wrote that Jones suffered multiple bites to her arms and face. She died at the scene.
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About two blocks away, neighbor Will Fortune heard a commotion and went outside when he saw the dogs coming up. He recalled seeing the dogs attack another one of his neighbors and he ran to help her.
“I kicked the dog in the back of the leg to take the dog’s attention off her to put on me. Then the dog tried to go for my neck, but I put my arm out,” he told The Banner last summer.
Fortune said another dog, which he did not see, pounced and bit the back of his other arm. He said he raised his arms with both dogs hanging from them and screamed, “Somebody shoot these damn dogs!”
That’s when police arrived and shot one of the dogs. They captured the second dog.
Prosecutors are accusing Hickerson of gross negligence in Jones’ death.
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