SAN ANTONIO — A 10-year-old San Antonio boy was getting off a school bus last week when he was bitten by a dog which was previously deemed dangerous, officials say.
Police say this incident is not the first one the dog’s owner has been involved in. KENS 5 spoke with a neighbor who was bitten by the suspect's dog himself.
The Edgecrest Drive man has a permanent reminder of a dangerous encounter last year, when he says a pit bull attached him while he was on a leisurely nighttime stroll.
“You can still see the one hole right there, the other hole," he said, pointing at the bite. “Now, after this bite, there’s not five, 10 seconds that go by where I’m not constantly looking around my shoulder or looking off in the distance to see if there’s a loose dog.”
Not only does this neighbor have the scars to prove the attack, but it’s also changed his outlook on roaming dogs in general.
“I can’t even relax outside my house, down my street without fear of being mauled," he said. "Or my smaller dog, her getting maimed or perhaps killed. That’s terrifying.”
According to an arrest warrant for Melanie Scott, the dog’s owner, there’s been multiple instances where her dog bit someone.
On Sept. 12, police say, her dog was roaming the street when it bit a 10-year-old boy on his left leg as he was getting off a school bus.
Witnesses say Scott took pictures of the boy’s injuries and left in her vehicle with her dog before police arrived. Police say the boy’s injuries required stitches. A witness told Animal Control Services their daughter was bitten by Scott’s dog in a separate incident.
There was another dog bite incident on July 31 and authorities categorized it as dangerous a week later. Scott was issued a court order stating her dog had to be secured on her property, leashed and muzzled when outside.
ACS officials said two dogs live on Scott’s property, telling KENS 5 in a statement that she was arrested and faces child injury charges amid an ACS investigation.
"ACS will continue to hold all irresponsible pet owners accountable for causing unsafe situations like this," officials went on to say. "Pet owners must obey the law and keep their pets on their property.”
Scott was eventually released on bond, which had been set at $20,000.