Victim of dog attack wants owners to be held accountable

SAN ANTONIO — Ramon Najera’s deadly mauling brought back savage recollections to Doris Mixon-Smith.

It all sounded as well familiar to Mixon-Smith, who says she was minutes absent from demise when her neighbor’s pitbull attacked her. 

“5 minutes. They said if they had of been 5 minutes afterwards, I would have bled out ideal there,” Mixon-Smith explained. 

The retired radiology tech said she and a relative of Najera’s dwell on Mansfield Drive.

81-12 months-old Najera bought laid to rest very last week right after a few dogs attacked him and his wife on Depla Street. Juanita “Janie” Najera survived with severe accidents. The pet dogs were seized and euthanized.

The injured widow is suing the dogs’ proprietor Christian Alexander Moreno and his wife, Abilene Schnieder—the two encounter criminal prices of perilous assault-demise and damage to the aged-felony neglect in the scenario.

“And the 1st matter I consider about is the persons that triggered this—they are heading on about their everyday living,” Mixon-Smith reported. “I harm each individual day.”  

The mom of 5 just celebrated her 79th birthday, and it arrived 6 days right after an anniversary Mixon-Smith under no circumstances wanted on her calendar.

March 6, 2017, Mixon-Smith claimed she was undertaking property work. At the time, she was 73 a long time outdated. The retiree was days absent from a excursion with close friends when a muscular pitbull came charging at her.

“I remember the pet dog because I claimed, God, please enable me,” Mixon-Smith recalled. “And I threw this arm up, and everything else was blurred. I did not feel no discomfort.”

Grotesque doorbell footage from her house showed ‘Bully’ the pitbull mutilating her arm. Bloodied and fighting for her everyday living, she tried to get the neighbor’s baby to ring her doorbell. KENS 5 attained movie and photographs of the situation from Bexar County District Legal professional court docket data. 

The boy begged the pet to quit, and it would not launch Mixon-Smith’s arm. The baby even hit Bully with what looked like a PVC pipe, but the animal held its grip.

“Bully, cease please!” the boy tearfully pleaded.

Meantime, an adult guy named 911 from within his property. 

Caller: The puppy is attacking this woman proper now. Come, come, come.

Dispatcher: Attacking the what?

Caller: Pitbull is attacking this girl outside.

A woman is screaming on some of the 911 transmissions.

Caller: The woman is bleeding. The lady—The young children reported—The youngsters said, that’s a bone that’s demonstrating.

Current San Antonio Police Detective Matthew Vizcarrondo was a patrol officer that day. He bought the contact to go to Mixon-Smith’s house. When he arrived, the 911 caller shouted for Vizcarrondo to close the assault with lethal force.

Caller: Shoot it! Just get rid of it! (Gunshot) 

Female: Oh my god. (Gunshot)

For seven days, Mixon-Smith was unaware she was in the healthcare facility. She was alive but oblivious that her 74th birthday experienced arrive and long gone.

“When I woke up, I saw my sister standing at the end of the mattress,” she recalled. “I mentioned this can not be superior.” 

The physicians could not conserve her arm from the hazardous assault. They amputated element of it and also labored on her face. The canine experienced ripped the pores and skin off of a portion of her deal with. Evidence from the facial wounds continues to be currently.

“You can probably see the scars right here. It was a hot mess,” she explained.

Mixon-Smith was off to rehab with an amputated arm she phone calls Charlie. A name that arrived off the cuff when the healthcare facility nurses saved calling it a stump.

The pet dog assault sufferer stated she remembered crying once, hunting at her face in the hospital mirror by yourself in her space. But she wiped her tears and moved on.

“I could not enable them be revealed to my children. They do not require no weakling for no mama. No!” she stated.

Alphonso McCloud and his spouse, Stanyelle Miles-McCloud were being identified guilty of the pet dog attack. The wife gained probation, and her partner received sentenced to TDCJ in January 2018. He obtained produced in August 2021.

Mixon-Smith explained the $100,000 coverage settlement from the incident did not deal with her healthcare facility expenditures which came shut to $240,000. Moreover, she incurred fees for new garments to accommodate a single arm and many medications to relieve the agony of the dog’s teeth.

“Forgiveness is a difficult thing, specially when you’ve got all these strategies for a everyday living,” she said. “I’m retired. I have labored all my lifetime because I was 15 several years aged.”  

So Najera’s loss of life and her lifestyle-transforming adjustment as a survivor spurred her to talk to pet house owners to be dependable and accountable.

“So just about every pet dog is various. That is the actuality,” Lucia Alamanza said. “They all want the correct treatment, socialization, and coaching.” 

Almanza, a spokeswoman for the San Antonio Humane Society, said any doggy could become harmful if the animal will get lifted to be intense. Human Culture coach Hannah Barrera agreed.

“If the pet is just not socialized and does not get adequate assurance, it truly is heading to act much more territorial,” Barrera reported. “Due to the fact it will not know how else to act.” 

They proposed properly exposing the canine to any and each predicament doable as a part of liable pet possession.

Breed-distinct details confirming the most dangerous pet dog depends on the searcher and the source. Most align the pitbull and Rottweilers at the leading of the list.

“I obtained a golf putter in this hand, a gun in my pocket. How do you walk and take it easy like that?” Mixon-Smith mentioned.

 While not calling out a particular breed, she is anxious about puppy attacks on the elderly. A list compiled by dogbites.org exhibits the variety of elderly victims in Texas. Most, if not all, canine chunk trackers reveal that kids have the best vulnerability to canine attacks.