Tuesday, 28 September 2021
Tuesday, July 17, 2018 || By Michael Romain || @maywoodnews
Featured image: The Maywood Board of Trustees with Angela Davis during a July 17 regular board meeting. | VFP
A Maywood woman is alive after being attacked by her own dog on this past Memorial Day and she has the quick-thinking, courageous response of Angela Davis to thank.
On May 28, Sabrina Serrano’s pit bull terrier began attacking her in front of her children on the 1600 block of South 18th Avenue in Maywood. Angela Davis, who was in the area at the time, witnessed the attack and sprung into action.
“[Serrano] has three kids,” Davis said during an interview on July 17. “They were the first people I saw come out of the house. They came out screaming, saying, ‘He’s hurting her.’ I thought they were talking about a person, but they said, ‘No, it’s the dog. He’s dragging her out of the house.’”
Davis said that she didn’t think to arm herself before approaching Serrano and the dog. In fact, she wasn’t thinking about herself at all.
“I just thought, ‘Oh my God, she’s about to die in front of everybody on this porch,” Davis said. “I grabbed the dog by the head and threw him off of her.”
That’s when the pit bull started to attack Davis, who said that she only sustained minor injuries from the pit bull. A neighbor eventually rushed to help out, hitting the pit bull over the head with a two by four until Davis was released, according to Maywood Police Lt. Daryl Fairley, who said that police responded to the incident at around 7:30 p.m.
While the man was attempting to save Davis, he accidentally broke two of her fingers. Davis also sustained multiple bites on her forearm and left triceps. She underwent surgery for the broken fingers on July 14.
Davis was honored for her actions during a July 17 regular village board meeting, where Maywood Police Chief Valdimir Talley presented her with a civilian certificate of appreciation.
Davis said she has no special training on how to handle aggressive dogs. In fact, she added, that was the first time she’d ever been in that kind of situation.
“I just acted based on pure instinct,” she said.
Davis said that Serrano is recovering and walking now. The dog, witnesses said, was seriously injured. So far, however, neither witnesses nor police could report on his current status.
Angela Davis with her certificate of accommodation during a July 17 board meeting in Maywood. | VFP
Maywood has strict regulations for owning pit bulls. Residents are required to obtain a special permit, and abide by numerous restrictions, if they want to own the breed.
Pit bull ownership is prohibited if a resident lives within 1,500 feet of a school, public park, playground, day care facility or other similar facility, according to the village ordinances.
Last year, a group of Maywood pit bull owners demanded that the village repeal its ordinance regulating pit bull ownership, arguing that it wrongly discriminates against an entire breed of dogs.
Deloren Johnson, Maywood’s animal control officer, said last year that dog attacks in the village are rare and added that whether or not a dog is considered dangerous is less dependent on the breed than the owner.
“The thing about any dog is the way they’re trained. If you train an animal to be aggressive, the animal is going to be aggressive. If you don’t train the dog and it gets loose, it will potentially be a problem,” he said at the time.
Fairley said on July 17 that code enforcement and animal control will follow up with the owner of the home where the attack occurred. VFP
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