Investigation of attack by dog is continuing

Animal Care Services is investigating whether a second animal under quarantine, possibly a stray, was involved in the year’s first case of serious bodily injury caused by a dog attack.

Christina Gutierrez, 34, recently was released from University Hospital where she had been receiving treatment for nearly two weeks after she was attacked near Brighton Avenue on the South Side as she walked to work Jan. 4.

Guiterrez suffered deep gashes to the muscle and tissue of her ankles, calves and thighs of both legs and her right forearm during the attack.

Animal Care Services seized two pit bulls the day of the attack and has them in quarantine at ACS facilities.

A dog named Coco, believed to have been the cause of most if not all of Gutierrez’s injuries, was surrendered by its owner. The second dog seized was female and its owner, if there is one, has not been found.

ACS director Heber Lefgren said the only outcome for a dog charged in a serious body injury case is euthanasia.

Assistant director Shannon Sims said the animal was euthanized Wednesday.

Lefgren said ACS officers met with Gutierrez on Tuesday and she started to recall additional details after a meeting with a person who’d helped her.

She looked over additional photos and said the second dog was a male, not a female, a fact she included on an affidavit.

Sims said they still are holding the female dog as officers continue to look for the second dog involved in the attack.

“We’re actively searching for the animal based on information from the neighborhood,” Sims said.

In a Facebook post, Gutierrez said her car had run out of gas when she was on her way to work, so she decided to walk the few blocks left to get to her destination.

As she passed by a house with a low fence, a dog jumped out and attacked her. She said a second canine joined the attack.

In the post, she recalled seeing people watching her who did nothing to help despite her screams.

It wasn’t until a good Samaritan driving by stopped and ran to her aid when he saw her, hitting the dogs until they ran away. He covered the bleeding woman, called police and waited with her until officers arrived.

“If that had been a child or an elderly person walking down that street instead of Ms. Gutierrez on that particular day, the chances are that that individual would have been dead,” said local animal rights activist Kelly Walls, who has been urging tighter controls over dangerous dogs. “And she probably would have been dead, too, had it not been for the individual who stopped and assisted in removing those dogs from her.”

Walls said Gutierrez was more fortunate than victims in several past tragic cases.

In 2014, an American Staffordshire terrier mix attacked and mauled 83-year-old Petra Aguirre. She died a week and a half later.

On 2017, Doris Mixon Smith was gardening at her West Side home when a neighbor’s pit bull attacked her. The pit bull severed Smith’s left arm off below the elbow and mauled her face.

The dog’s owner, Alphonso McCloud, was sentenced to four years in prison; his wife, Stanyelle Miles-McCloud received a 10-year probated sentence and was prohibited from ever owning a dog again.

Lefgren said Gutierrez’s case has been a priority for ACS.

“From the first day, we have regular and multiple communication with the victim, and the victim’s family, keeping them updated on where we are,” he said. “We are here to help and provide closure on the enforcement aspect of it and we hope she has a speedy recovery.”

Six criminal citations have been issued in connection with the attack: to the person who had care and custody of Coco at the time of the incident and Coco’s owner.

The person with care and custody was cited for free restraint and allowing the animal to bite an individual. The owner received citations for failure to provide proof of rabies vaccination or a microchip and allowing the animal to bite an individual.

Gutierrez is undergoing a series of rabies shots because there wasn’t proof of vaccination and the second animal hasn’t been caught and quarantined yet.

In fiscal year 2018, there were nine cases of dog attacks involving serious bodily injury; there were 13 cases in fiscal year 2017.

Dr. Lillian Liao, chief of pediatric trauma and burn team at University Hospital, said that when a dog’s jaw clamps down on a victim, the teeth puncture the victim’s skin and the force of the closed jaw crushes the tissue underneath.

She said once the dog’s jaw locks, the crushing and tearing becomes more severe.

Liao said most attacks take place outdoors; with bacteria from an animal’s mouth and dirt from the ground, a wound can become infected if not properly treated.

Most of the time, victims of serious bodily injury receive one or multiple surgeries that may involve skin grafts. In some severe cases, reconstruction may not be possible.