Dallas woman arrested for dog attack

Dallas police arrested a woman for a dog attack after her Pitbull mauled a woman Saturday – the second attack by that dog this summer.

Alicia Hernandez, 64, was charged with attack by a dangerous dog. Police said her dog attacked a woman Saturday morning when the Pitbull ran through the front gate.

The victim said she was walking to a nearby DART station when she was attacked by the dog.

With bandages covering four bites to her body, 38-year-old Estella told FOX 4 she thought she was going to die when a dog left its yard on Rosewood Avenue, crossed the street and attacked her.

Estella recalled that the dog knocked her down and bit her several times before stopping on its own. Someone driving by saw her and called 911.

Dallas police announced on Friday that officers arrested Hernandez, the dog's owner. Police say she had a history of violations with animal services, including an attack by the same dog on a different woman on July 9.

“In this case, I think we can prove she should have known after July 9 that this dog was dangerous,” said Officer Rob Sherwin. “It had attacked a lady who was simply working down the street.”

The woman in the July 9 attack wasn’t badly injured. Hernandez paid a ticket to get the dog out of quarantine on July 19.

In the nearly five weeks since, Dallas police say Animal Services was "taking steps" to declare the dog a dangerous animal.

Friday's arrest came as Dallas battles a loose dog problem, underscored by the death of Antoinette Brown in May. The city estimated there are 8,700 loose dogs just in South Dallas.

In Love Field, where the most recent attack happened, Dallas police say it was able to trace ownership of this dog and show that the department is willing to take an owner to jail if someone is hurt.

“I think that this is a public safety issue that demands that we take a hard look along with Dallas Animal services and see what we can do to protect the public,” said Sherwin.