HOLMES BEACH – A Holmes Beach resident says she and her dog are lucky to be alive after being attacked by a 143-pound mastiff while going for a walk at her condo.
Evalena Leedy was taking her 9-pound toy poodle, Alonzo, for a walk on Aug. 21 about 8:30 p.m. when the unleashed 143-pound dog approached rapidly.
“The whole ordeal was terrifying!” Leedy said. “I was walking Alonzo near the condo when out from the bushes, next to the dumpster comes an unleashed, large mastiff dog running straight for us. I picked up Alonzo and threw him on top of a parked car. The dog repeatedly lunged at me and bit my right arm, causing me to bleed. The dog kept coming, I was trying to protect myself and Alonzo and was unsuccessfully attempting to kick the dog away.”
Leedy said after she had been bitten, the dog’s owner, later identified as Anthony Santamauro, arrived and pulled the mastiff off her.
“I was screaming for someone to call the police and get help, we were being viciously attacked. The owner then put the dog inside the gate of one of the units and started walking toward me asking what was happening. Standing there bleeding, I told him that his dog bit me. His reply was ‘He did not bite you, you are going to kill my dog,’ which I thought was a strange and unbelievable response,” Leedy said.
According to a medical report from HCA Florida Blake Hospital that Leedy provided to The Sun, along with photographs of her injuries, the dog bit her and she had five serious puncture wounds and lacerations to her right arm that required multiple sutures and medication after she was treated.
Leedy says she is thankful the injuries weren’t worse and her dog, Alonzo, escaped unharmed, but she feared for both of their lives as the incident unfolded.
Worried about rabies complications, she was able to get vaccination records from the owner of the condo where the mastiff’s owner was staying. She said that fortunately, the animal did have a rabies shot in February of this year. However, while looking at the vaccination record from a Bradenton veterinarian, she was shocked to see Santamauro’s name.
“I read an article in The Sun recently about a small dog being killed in an attack at Island Time Bar and Grill in Bradenton Beach on Aug. 9,” Leedy said. “I quickly realized this was the same dog and the same owner. The last dog he attacked died. How is he still running around without a leash?”
Leedy had called 911 after the attack, but since she was in the car with her partner driving to the hospital, they referred her to Manatee County Animal Control and did not send police since the victim wasn’t on the scene to speak to them.
She said a later call the next day didn’t get her much information from Animal Control, and she didn’t even know if the dog was still in her neighborhood. The Sun called Manatee County Animal Control on Aug. 24, and was told they would not provide any information on the case. The following statement was issued by email from Manatee County Public Information Officer Bill Logan, which he said was from Manatee County Animal Welfare:
“This is an open active Dangerous Dog (Florida Statute 767) Investigation. The dog owner will be served his letter today along with citations that will be issued.”
According to the Florida Department of Health, there is a mandatory 10-day quarantine for any dog that bites a human. If the dog has been vaccinated and is up to date on its rabies shots, that quarantine can be at the home of the owner. Since the first attack took place on Aug. 9, the 10-day mandatory quarantine period would have expired when Leedy was bitten on Aug. 21, but the animal should now be under a second quarantine for the attack against her.
Both Animal Control and Holmes Beach police met with Leedy on Aug. 25 at her home, and she said that both agencies told her they had not yet been in contact with Santamauro, who was no longer staying in the Holmes Beach condo complex where the incident occurred.
Lt. Brian Hall of the Holmes Beach Police Department told The Sun in an Aug. 25 phone call that his department had compiled a report on the incident and would be sharing that report with Animal Control, which is leading the investigation.
If the investigation finds the dog to be dangerous, any further attacks on humans or other domestic animals would cause the owner to be subject to a first-degree misdemeanor charge, and the dog could be confiscated by animal control and humanely destroyed after a 10-day period, according to Florida Statute 767.13 (1). If a dog deemed dangerous attacks, causing serious injury or death to a human, the owner could be guilty of a third-degree felony and the dog humanely destroyed after a 10-day period, according to Florida Statute 767.13 (2).
