Two pit bulls that mauled an Ohio grandmother to death last year were reportedly high on cocaine at the time.
The woman’s family has now filed a lawsuit against the dogs’ owners, the town dog warden, and the condo complex where the dogs’ owners resided at the time of the attack.
Police responded to JoAnn Echelbarger’s home last October after her neighbors’ pit bulls, Echo and Apollo, attacked and dismembered her while she was gardening. The 73-year-old woman’s husband, who is afflicted with dementia and uses a wheelchair, was not able to help, and Echelbarger succumbed to her injuries.
The dogs were found to have cocaine in their systems at the time of the incident, the Columbus Dispatch reported, citing pathology reports. The pit bulls were shot and killed by police shortly after the attack.
Even after being shot, one of the dogs returned to Jo Ann and continued to attack, the family alleges in the suit.
In February, the dogs’ owners, Adam Withers and his mother Susan Withers, were found guilty of involuntary manslaughter.
Adam Withers and Susan Withers.
Pickaway County Jail
After a series of complaints and orders from the homeowners’ association to remove the dogs, a judge finally ordered the Withers to remove the dogs several weeks before Echelbarger was mauled, according to NBC4.
The dogs were not removed, however, and again, just weeks before the fatal attack, police were called to the Withers’ home. At that time, the dogs, who were loose at the condo complex, were believed to have ingested their owner’s cocaine, per the lawsuit. The dogs were brought back home and the dog warden reportedly failed to assist.
Echelbarger’s son, Bill Rogers, told ABC6 that the official response that day was “reckless.”
“I feel like they were gambling with a lot of people’s lives that day,” said Rogers. “And she was the one who paid the price.”
About her mom’s death, Echelbarger’s daughter Earlene told the outlet, “She did not deserve this. She was tortured and she suffered. This is not what you expect your parent to go through. This is not what you expect to happen to anyone you love.”
Adam Withers’ lawyer, Peter Scranton, tells PEOPLE that the sentencing date is still pending for Adam and Susan Withers for their involuntary manslaughter convictions.
“The jury went out the day before, and the trial lasted a day and a half. We thought the [jury] might split it — find him guilty but not her, or vice versa. We were a little shocked by the length of time the jurors were out and that they convicted them both of everything,” Scranton says.
The wrongful death suit is calling for compensatory damages exceeding $25,000, along with punitive damages of an amount to be revealed at the trial.
“We all knew that was coming,” Scranton says when asked about the lawsuit, adding his clients “don’t have a lot of money.”
