Court Watching: VBT dog on death row for biting another dog, injuring dog’s owner

On Aug. 20, 34th District Court Judge Tina Brooks Green ordered a Van Buren Township dog to be destroyed. The owner has 21 days to appeal the judge’s decision to circuit court and the dog would be held by VBT during that time.
The owner, Jennifer Favot of Clayton Road near Quirk Park, was tearful as she pled for the dog’s life over a Zoom court session. She said the dog sleeps with her three-year-old son and the son and her eight-year-old daughter wrestle and play with the dog.
“Our two kids would be devastated,” Favot told the judge. “We got the dog for my son and they are the same age.” She took her smartphone over to show the dog on camera with his basket muzzle on. She said he now wears that whenever he is outside and cannot bite anyone. The problem gate now has a chain on it so he can’t escape, she said.
“I don’t like doing these cases,” said Judge Green, who noted her sister is a veterinarian. She asked VBT prosecutor Angela Mannarino if the township is willing to entertain an alternative.
Mannarino said she has been prosecutor for eight years and this is only the third time such a case has come up.
“Not often,” she said of the instances.
“Quirk Park is very busy and a lot of children are there,” Mannarino said of the site of the June incident, where the township’s popular splash pad is located. There also was an incident in October 2019 with the same dog. “If it happened a third time, it puts VBT in a precarious position and seems to say we’re OK with this.”
“I have to agree,” Judge Green said. “I take this very seriously. I am not making this decision lightly. I authorize destroying the dog.”
A tearful Favot asked if they couldn’t give the dog to somebody else and Judge Green said that would just be sending the problem somewhere else.
“That’s my decision,” Judge Green said. “Once the dog is destroyed, I will dismiss the other charges.” She referred to tickets for having an unlicensed dog and having a dangerous dog.
“You have 21 days to appeal my decision to circuit court,” Judge Green said. “VBT will take and hold the dog for 21 days.”
The court session via Zoom was not scheduled on the docket, but Judge Green allowed it to be heard at the end of her regular docket Aug. 20.
Mannarino brought Robert Queener as her first witness. Queener said he has been animal control/ordinance officer at VBT for 16 years.
He said this is the follow up to a prior case. He said on Aug. 17, 2019 the same dog got loose and injured the Porzondek dog and there was a $432.90 vet bill. Queener said he issued an animal at large citation and no license citation and Favot pled guilty to dangerous dog on Oct. 22, 2019.
Queener said in June 2020 the same dog was involved in another incident and Michael Pagel came into the police department on the weekend to file a report. Queener said he issued the ticket. Favot offered to pay Pagel for his vet bill for his dog and doctor’s bill for himself. Queener said they got the vet to produce the vaccination report.
Favot said her husband had talked with Pagel at the park and they exchanged phone numbers.
Favot was representing herself at the hearing and did not cross-examine Queener.
Pagel, who was the second witness, said in late June he made a report to the police department. He said he was walking his dog in Quirk Park and Favot’s dog came running free and attacked his dog. He said he held the attacking dog down so his wife could get their dog away.
Pagel said his dog is a Doberman pinscher, 60 pounds, and about three feet tall.
He said the attacker was a white dog with dark spots, some kind of bull dog, shorter than his dog, but more muscular than his dog. He said his dog received 14 puncture wounds and had to be sedated for four to seven days and was on antibiotics for a month, along with pain medication.
Pagel, who lives on Wheatgrass Lane near Quirk Park, said they walked their dog three times a day in the park and stopped going to the area next to Quirk subdivision for a solid month.
When he was holding the dog down he got a puncture wound on his left finger and was prescribed antibiotics.
When the township realized this was the second attack, it served notice to destroy the dog.
Pagel said if the dog needs to be destroyed for the safety of the area, “So be it.”
Pagel said it took only five seconds of time for the dog to do all the damage it did. He said a child at Quirk Park could be injured, or a senior citizen who usually walks a small dog under 15 pounds could be hurt.
“I was strong enough and I took the dog down,” Pagel said, adding if his wife was alone walking the dog, she couldn’t have done that.