INKSTER, Mich. – An Inkster mother says a dog attack on her 6-year-old son this weekend could have been avoided if city animal control officials had responded to her repeated complaints about the animal.
Heather Beyer said she has contacted Inkster’s animal control department multiple times over the past several months about her neighbors’ dogs getting loose, acting aggressively, and a complaint she made that the dogs were being abused.
She felt like those concerns went unanswered, and then her son was bitten and scratched.
The incident happened in Beyer’s yard on Woodlawn Drive.
She said she sent her son next door to alert the neighbors that their dog was loose again.
The video Beyer shared shows her son running away from a dog that chases him and then jumps on him.
“As soon as he jumped on him, it was just fear for me because it was like, are they going to bite? They’ve already nipped him,” Beyer said. “I didn’t really know what was going to happen.
Beyer said, thankfully, her son suffered only a small bite and scratches in the encounter.
She said the dog getting loose has been a recurring problem and could have been avoided had animal control listened to her concerns.
She provided an additional video, which she said showed prior incidents of the same animal roaming the neighborhood.
Beyer also shared screenshots of what she described as multiple calls to animal control, along with an email exchange documenting her concerns to that division.
“I’ve called them multiple times about them getting out, about all the other issues, and I know they have a procedure to do, and nothing has been done,” Beyer said.
An Inkster animal control officer told Local 4 by phone Monday (June 8) that the dog involved in the weekend incident is now under quarantine.
The officer said he would provide more information later on Monday after he’d left the property where the dog was located.
Local 4 reached out to that officer an additional three other times after the first call, texted him, and sent two emails.
Local 4 also contacted the city’s police chief for comment.
At the time of this publication, neither has responded.
The home where the dogs have repeatedly escaped was the focus of unrelated police activity on Monday.
Because of a tense situation outside the residence, where two groups were yelling, we were unable to get a comment from anyone inside the home.
Local 4 contacted those who live at the home to get their side of the story, and we’re waiting to hear back.
Beyer said she worries the situation will escalate if nothing changes.
“They’re getting out consistently. They’re getting older, they’re getting more aggressive,” she said. “I just hope something is done before these dogs seriously hurt someone on this street.”
Local 4 also spoke with other residents on Woodlawn Street about the dogs.
Two told us off camera that they have seen the dogs loose on the street and to stay away.