Bruce Frohman: Viscious dog laws exist, enforce them
According to Wikipedia, on Jan. 26, 2001, Diane Whipple was killed by two Presa Canario dogs in the hallway of her apartment building in San Francisco. The two owners of the dogs were indicted on the counts of second-degree murder, involuntary manslaughter and felony keeping a mischievous dog. Both owners were convicted of crimes and one is serving out a 15-year sentence in Chowchilla.
Laws exist to prosecute the owners of the pit bulls that killed the man in south Modesto. Though I am not an attorney, I am fairly certain that as a juror I would vote to convict the dog owners on at least one of the same charges filed in the Whipple case.
I also would convict on the charge of child endangerment any pit bull owner who gives any child access to his dog, whether voluntarily or involuntarily. Just as “ignorance of the law” is no excuse, Saying, “I didn’t know my dog was dangerous” is not a valid defense.
The public must be protected from vicious dogs. Negligent owners must suffer consequences.
Bruce R. Frohman, Modesto
This story was originally published November 18, 2014 at 1:03 PM with the headline "Bruce Frohman: Viscious dog laws exist, enforce them."