Bitten while on neighborhood walk
A Luling man walking in the area of Cottage Drive was attacked by two Rottweilers around 6:27 p.m. Monday and hospitalized when one of them bit him.
Capt. Pat Yoes, spokesman for the St. Charles Parish Sheriff’s Office, said deputies responded to a call involving Kenneth Breaux who stated he was walking on Cottage Drive in Davis Plantation Park, also in Luling, when the two dogs exited a driveway and approached him.
Breaux told officers that he “tried to make eye contact with the dogs, but they kept snapping at him.” He attempted to fend them off by making noise with a Tazer-like device, but it malfunctioned.
“Breaux continued backing away from the dogs yelling, but one lunged forward and bit him on the arm,” according to Yoes. “He began running and yelling for help.”
Yoes said the man ran into a neighbor’s residence to evade the animals.
“He called his wife from there, who took him to St. Charles Hospital,” he said. Breaux was severely bitten on his arm, which included a two-inch laceration to the top of his forearm, another one-inch laceration and a puncture wound both at the bottom of his arm.
St. Charles Parish Hospital would not provide Breaux’s condition because of privacy issues.
Breaux is the facilities manager for the St. Charles Parish Library.
One of the two dogs, a male that apparently bit the man, was picked up by the St. Charles Parish Animal Control shortly after the incident.
By Tuesday afternoon, the second dog, a female, also was picked up and brought to the shelter, according to Jena Troxler, veterinarian for the St. Charles Parish Animal Shelter who has provided animal care at the shelter for eight years. She also lives in the area and questioned not picking up both dogs on Monday because of the severity of the attack, as well as verifying that both animals were involved.
Troxler said Breaux’s arm was seriously injured when he attempted to protect his face as one of the dogs lunged at him, causing him to lose considerable blood. Then, the second dog acted aggressively toward him until a neighbor intervened.
“I don’t think he understands how badly the man’s arm was damaged,” Troxler said of the dogs’ owner.
Jerome Jarrow, also of Luling, who owns both dogs, received a citation for his animals being loose, according to Yoes. It’s a misdemeanor in St. Charles Parish that will require he go to court.
Jarrow could not be reached for comment by press time on Wednesday.
According to Yoes, Jarrow stated he was transferring the dogs from a smaller yard to a bigger one and didn’t realize the gate was open.
Jarrow also told deputies that he saw the dogs leave the yard and retrieved them, but he didn’t know about the attack at that time.
Animal Control Director Angie Robert confirmed the Rottweilers were being held at the shelter, where they will remain for 10 days under quarantine for rabies. But Troxler said the case will require more investigation because of the severity of the attack.
For an animal to be considered vicious in St. Charles Parish, it must bite a human three times in a calendar year, Robert said. These dogs have no prior of history of biting reported to the shelter.
According to state law, a dog is defined dangerous if it attacks and requires defensive action by that person to prevent bodily injury when the dog is off the property of its owner. It’s also defined as dangerous when, unprovoked, it bites a person causing injury.
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