Dog bites 71 year old woman in second reported attack

Norma Jean Stapp says she simply stepped out her front door to offer help to a neighbor. That's when the dog bit her on the abdomen and the arm.

December 29, 2010|by Linda Russell | KY3 Reporter

SPRINGFIELD, Mo.-- A Springfield woman is bitten by a dog, and it's the dog's second strike.
Seventy-one year old Norma Jean Stapp says she simply stepped out her front door to offer help to a neighbor. That's when the dog bit her on the abdomen and the arm.

She feels lucky it didn't get her face like the last person. The story on Olive Street was similar last year. March 19th, 2009, postal worker Gary Bloom suffered bite wounds to his face. Tuesday, the same mixed breed male dog attacked again.

"I came out like this and stopped, and I hadn't said two or three words, and it got me right here, bit me on the stomach, knocked me on my back, and then when I was on my back, I went like this, and it lunged for my face. I went up like that it and got me right here, really bad," says Stapp.

Stapp is now recovering from puncture wounds in both her arm and abdomen. "I wasn't expecting it, because I love animals, and I've never had one attack like that, and it just lunged; it didn't growl," Stapp says.

She's thankful the neighbor who was trying to catch the runaway dog was able to pull it off.
"If he would not have grabbed it... That's why I thanked him a lot," says Stapp.

Travis Busse says the dog was chained outside his girlfriend's house when it escaped. "I was bringing him back, and she offered me a leash, cause he didn't have one, and I was like, yeah, and I had him by the hair, and he got away from me and started biting her, and I hit him in the head and he stopped," Busse says.

"I scrambled up and got back in the house, and I was bleeding all over," says Stapp.

Animal Control is now investigating the dog's second reported attack. "It kind of depends on how well the people take responsibility and keep the dog confined after the first bite," says Randy Barnts, Supervisor of Springfield-Greene County Animal Control.

The dog would be impounded right now, but when authorities arrived, the owner told them the dog ran away and they didn't know where it went. "Of course, we didn't believe that story, but she did let us search the house, and the dog wasn't in the house," says Barnts.

"I got it in the house, and then it ran out the back door," says Busse.

If he does resurface, the dog's future is uncertain. "It actually is a lovable dog, for real," Busse says.

"From what I understand, they're moving out instantly today, but will it be somewhere else to bite another person or a child? It needs to be gone," Stapp says.

The dog's owner has been issued a summons for failure to impound a biting animal. She'll also get a ticket for a dog running loose and possibly a ticket for a malicious dog. Animal Control's investigation is continuing. They say putting the dog down is a possibility if it can be found.

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