Further details have been released about a Tyrone Township man who was killed in a dog attack.
Animal Control Deputies with the Livingston County Sheriff’s Office were conducting a follow-up visit on Wednesday August 2nd at approximately 11:40 a.m. at a residence in the 8000 block of Faussett Road. It has been revealed that the Animal Control Deputies were at the residence serving the homeowner a court notice issued by the 53rd District Court for a show-cause hearing. The dog at that residence had recently been involved in a dog attack incident where an area resident received extremely serious injuries. The dog was identified as a Mastiff mix breed.
While attempting to make contact at the residence, Animal Control Deputies located the 68-year-old resident, who is also the dog’s owner, in a cattle pasture belonging to that address. It was observed that the dog was actively biting the decedent’s body when the deputies located him.
The victim, who was later pronounced deceased on-scene, had fatal injuries consistent in appearance with a dog attack. Due to the dog’s aggressive behavior toward the victim and responding emergency personnel, the animal was killed on-site so that medical aid could be attempted. Foul play is not suspected.
The victim was transported to Sparrow Hospital in Lansing for an autopsy. The official cause and manner of death are pending at this time.
Deputies were assisted on-scene by the Hartland Area Fire Department and Livingston County EMS.
Meanwhile, Livingston County Sheriff Mike Murphy tells GIGO News that the original incident involving the dog took place on June 23rd, but was not reported to them until the 6th of July.
“That would’ve been outside the quarantine time, because you can only quarantine a dog for 10 days,” he said. “Secondly, it wasn’t like the dog was running around terrorizing the neighborhood.”
Murphy said the man bitten in the original incident was a neighbor of the dog owner, who he says was over to the house when the dog got out of his truck and bit him. He adds that the now-deceased dog owner’s property is completely fenced in, so unless someone climbed over the fence, there was no danger.
Additionally, Murphy says for those wondering why it took so long to obtain a court order and serve it, they had to contend with the fact that the dog’s owner was less than cooperative, making the due process part of their investigation that much more difficult.
Wednesday’s fatal incident remains under investigation by the Livingston County Sheriff’s Office Detective Bureau.
