OCEAN PINES — A local woman along with two small dogs are recovering after getting attacked by a dog last weekend, but the attacking dog, a pit bull terrier, has been turned over to Worcester County Animal Control to be euthanized.
Around 11:30 a.m. last Wednesday, an Ocean Pines Police officer was dispatched to the area of Beaconhill Road for a reported dog bite. Upon arrival, the officer located the victim, identified as Mary Ernst, 52, of Ocean Pines, sitting on her front steps with a towel around her left leg. The responding officer checked the victim’s injuries and noticed two deep lacerations in her left calf, a puncture wound to her upper right arm and scraped knees.
A witness told police Ernst and her dog, an American cocker spaniel, were leaving the witness’s home when he heard screaming outside. The witness told police he ran outside and saw his neighbor’s dog, a pit bull terrier named Manny, biting into Ernst’s leg. According to police reports, it appears two pit bulls had gotten out of a fenced-in area.
The witness told police he managed to get the pit bull known as Manny off of the victim by kicking it, but Manny then ran into the witness’s attached garage and attacked his seven-year-old male mixed rat terrier-Chihuahua dog. Armed with a shovel, the witness chased the two pit bulls back onto the deck of their residence and secured the gate.
Ernst was transported by Ocean Pines EMS to Atlantic General Hospital where she was treated for injuries sustained in the attack. According to police reports, Manny attacked Ernst, her cocker spaniel and her neighbor’s rat terrier-Chihuahua mix dog. Worcester County Animal Control was requested to respond to the scene. Manny was turned over to Animal Control to be euthanized.
Ocean Pines Police contacted the attacking dog’s owners, identified as Robert Riden, Jr., 47, and his wife Geri Riden, 46, both of Ocean Pines. Robert Riden told police he pulled the sunroom door shut, but might not have pulled the door shut all the way. Riden was cited for a leash law violation and was given two uniform civil citations.
