Police Search for Couple Following Dog Bite Incident
Heath, Ohio police are on the lookout for a couple after their dog reportedly bit a 7-year-old boy at a Sonic Drive-In restaurant. Police said witnesses reported a group of children speaking with the couple asking if they could pet their dog. The woman reportedly told the kids that the dog was not always friendly with children. The children started to walk away from the couple when the dog lunged at the 7-year-old and bit him.
The woman claimed she was a nurse and dismissed the bite wound stating that the boy would be fine. The couple walked away from the scene of the incident and police are currently searching for them primarily to determine if their dog could pose a threat due to not being vaccinated. One of the witnesses to the incident stated that the woman worked for the Chapel Grove and Inn and Cottage.
Although the woman warned the children that the dog was not good with children, the fact that they walked away from the incident without so much as attempting to help the 7-year-old child suggests a lack of remorse for their dog’s actions. This incident presents a very dangerous situation for the 7-year-old boy because there is a chance that the dog could be infected with rabies if it has not been vaccinated for the disease. The boy’s injuries from the bite itself could also have been very serious.
The CDC estimates that roughly 40,000 people a year receive the vaccination for rabies prevention due to a concern of exposure to the disease. Since the woman involved in this incident is a nurse, she could face much harsher penalties because she did not attempt to provide any medical assistance to the boy. If she did not have the means to provide proper medical attention at the scene, she could have just as easily brought the boy to a medical facility where he could have gotten the medical treatment he needed. Even if the dog is not infected with rabies, the boy’s injuries from the bite wound itself still required medical attention and the woman could have provided that for him.
