Were you recently attacked by a dog in Western New York? These injuries can prevent you from going back to work and performing normal daily activities. Here is what you should know about getting injured in a dog attack.
Attacked by a Dog | What Should I Do?
In a situation where a dog is loose and encounters a person (knocking them down, biting or otherwise causing an injury because of the attack), the first thing to do is to seek medical attention. The hospital is going to ask you at that first visit if the dog that bit you had up-to-date shots, specifically rabies and distemper. If you are injured, but can gather information at the scene, get whatever information you can about the dog and its owner. The owner of the dog can be held responsible for injuries if it can be shown that the dog had a propensity for certain behaviors, and that propensity can be demonstrated in a variety of different ways.
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Attacked by a Dog | Dog Bite Case Mistakes
The most common mistakes with dog bite cases are the failure to collect any witness information at the scene, and not noting the address where it happened. If you’re just walking through the neighborhood and something like this happens to you, you don’t first think about trying to nail down where the attack came from or how it happened.
The other issue is trying to lock down information regarding any prior bites or prior vicious propensities. Neighbors are often the best resource for that because they’ve seen the dog over the years, lunging at people. If you can knock on a door, show the neighbor what happened, the neighbors become much more helpful because they don’t want their children or themselves attacked. When they see the damage that the dog has done, they tend to be much more cooperative, and have information that can be used with the insurance company.
If you have been attacked by a dog, please give our Buffalo Dog Bite Injury lawyers a call today for a free consultation. We will fight for you and your family if a dog has bitten you in Western New York resulting in an injury.