Delanie Walker

Morgan Hill police classified a local pit bull as a

dangerous dog

after it attacked its owner’s pool service man last month.
Morgan Hill police classified a local pit bull as a “dangerous dog” after it attacked its owner’s pool service man last month.

In fact, police and neighbors in the northeast Morgan Hill neighborhood have had problems with the dog running loose, growling, and even preventing people from exiting their gated yards.

On March 23, Rick Ellis, 61 of Gilroy, escaped with puncture wounds on his right wrist and forearm, left thigh, lower buttocks and fingers on both hands, according to Police Chief Bruce Cumming.

Ellis visited the home of San Francisco 49er Delanie Walker to service his swimming pool, as he has for seven years, accessing the property with the owner’s permission and by entering the electronic code to unlock the gate at the end of the driveway, Cumming said.

When he pulled up to the house, he looked around to see if Yak, the larger of Walker’s two pit bulls, was unrestrained, as the dog had been aggressive in the past.

Not seeing the dog, Ellis exited his truck and walked up to the home and rang the bell. There was no answer, and Ellis turned and started to walk back toward his truck, Cumming said. Suddenly, both dogs came running toward him.

“He said the smaller dog was not aggressive, but the older dog came straight at him and started attacking,” Cumming said.

Eventually, Ellis was able to escape by climbing into the back of a pickup truck on the property. Walker came outside and was “very apologetic” to Ellis, Cumming said. He brought him inside and helped clean his wounds, wrapped the injuries, and drove him to an emergency room at Good Samaritan Hospital, Cumming said.

Cumming said there was “miscommunication” between Ellis and Walker as to when the pool man was scheduled to come to the house. Walker told police he typically locks the dog up when he knows Ellis is coming over.

Ellis did not report the attack until about three days later. A phone call to his listed phone number was not returned.

Although Ellis never had a serious problem with Walker’s dog in the past, police and neighbors have.

On Feb. 25, police were called to the neighborhood when both dogs were running loose and threatening residents. One of the dogs growled at a sheriff deputy who responded and tried to subdue him.

In response to that incident, police issued citations to Walker for two dogs running at large, both without licenses and restraints, Cumming said. They also classified the larger dog as a “level one” or potentially dangerous dog.

After the attack on Ellis, animal control classified Yak a “level two” or dangerous dog. Walker was required to keep the dog locked up in home quarantine for 10 days, and after that the dog has to be restrained “at all times,” Cumming said. “He can’t even be loose on the property.”

Walker did not respond to a note left in his mailbox requesting comment Wednesday afternoon.

Diana Hall, who lives two houses from Walker, said she and other neighbors have called police numerous times regarding the same dog.

Hall said one day she was standing in her driveway, behind her closed gate, when Yak came running down the street. “He turned and charged so hard he hit the gate,” she said. “It was like he thinks he owns the street.”

Hall added that up until last summer she and other neighbors tried to work directly with Walker, calling him whenever the dogs were loose. But when the dogs continued to run loose up and down the street, they started calling the police.

Another neighbor said there have been times he was unable to get out of his house because the dogs were loose, and times when he has returned home and he couldn’t get out of his car until the dogs were gone.

There are currently a total of five dogs in Morgan Hill classified as level one, and three classified as level two. An animal becomes classified as level three after it has killed another animal, and has to be euthanized.

Cumming said a dog-bite attack on a person or another animal would constitute a more serious violation on public property than it would on private property, which is where the attack on Ellis took place. But he said he shares the neighbors’ concerns.

“This is a potentially dangerous situation and I believe the dog should be restricted because he has shown a propensity for aggression,” Cumming said. “The owner has shown some indifference to containing the dog.”

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