An Ohio grandmother was mauled to dying by her neighbor’s pit bulls — which had been later discovered to have been excessive on cocaine, in line with a lawsuit.
JoAnn Echelbarger, 73, was “peacefully gardening” in October when she was ripped aside by the pit bulls, Echo and Apollo, freely roaming her Ashton condominium’s widespread areas, in line with court docket paperwork.
Her husband, Stanley — who suffers from dementia and was in a wheelchair — watched helplessly as his spouse was mauled for a number of minutes whereas “screaming for her life,” in line with the criticism, which mentioned one canine continued the assault even after cops opened hearth to attempt to cease them.
“She didn’t deserve this. She was tortured, and she or he suffered,” Echelbarger’s daughter Earlene Romine instructed ABC 6.
“This isn’t what you count on your guardian to undergo. This isn’t what you count on to occur to anybody you like.”
The canine each later examined constructive for cocaine, in line with the court docket submitting. Their house owners, Adam Withers and his mom, Susan, had been each convicted of involuntary manslaughter in reference to Echelbarger’s dying final month, court docket information present.
“How do you not have a look at them as a villain answerable for killing your mother?” the useless lady’s son, Invoice Rogers, instructed ABC 6.
The household is suing the house owners in addition to their mom’s condominium affiliation and the county canine warden, accusing them of negligence and failing to behave on a number of pink flags concerning the Witherses and their canine’ conduct.
That included police physique digital camera footage exhibiting officers responding to reviews that Echo and Apollo had ingested Adam Withers’ cocaine simply weeks earlier than the horrifying lethal assault, the lawsuit claimed.
The officers expressed frustration that the canine warden was unresponsive, in line with the submitting.
The pit bulls had been allowed to reside on the condominium even after the Witherses did not adjust to an order to get them out, the lawsuit claims.
As a substitute, Adam Withers taunted constructing administration, the lawsuit alleged, citing social media posts, together with one saying that “people are the issue.”
“By no means ask a pitbull proprietor to decide on between you and their pitbulls. As a result of they’ll select, and it gained’t be you,” one Fb put up learn.
“It’s reckless,” Rogers instructed the outlet.
“I really feel like they had been playing with lots of people’s lives that day, and she or he was the one who paid the worth,” he mentioned.
The wrongful dying go well with seeks compensatory damages exceeding $25,000 together with punitive damages.
“We’re in search of justice,” mentioned Rex Elliot, the household’s lawyer, saying that native authorities “had a duty to take … these canine out of there.”
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