Florida reporter David Goodhue was on a routine assignment back in November of 2018 when he was savagely and brutally attacked by a Canary bull mastiff belonging to the man he was slated to interview. The attack, which happened in the Keys, left him with serious injuries that necessitated several reconstructive surgeries to correct. Goodhue recently described his chilling, nightmarish encounter in detail, stating at one point “I became the story.”
Goodhue says it was an ordinary day like any other, and he was headed out to interview a source for a story about the economic aftermath of Hurricane Irma. The man he was set to interview requested that Goodhue meet him at a boatyard; once there, the man’s dog came running up to his car. The owner indicated to Goodhue that the dog was friendly, but seconds later, the dog pushed his head into Goodhue’s car, ripping off part of his face and hand.
Harrowingly, Goodhue recounts how he quickly became the subject of an entirely different headline for a story he published recently for the Miami Herald. ” In a matter of seconds, I got a lesson in anatomy,” Goodhue wrote. “Flesh separates from our bodies easily, quietly and painlessly. I was reminded that graphic violence in real life happens fast and without warning.”
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After the attack, Goodhue was taken to an area hospital where he spent five days receiving treatment. He has undergone three plastic surgeries to reconstruct his nose for the skin on his forehead and behind his ear. He needs two more surgeries to complete his facial reconstruction—but he may never regain full sensation in some areas of his face.
Although the Canary mastiff—a mix of bulldog, English Mastiff and Canary Island herding dog—is not as notoriously dangerous as the pit bull, attacks by this breed are not unusual, and can even be deadly. That was the case back in 2011 when a woman was killed by this same breed in San Francisco, an attack that left the dog’s owner serving a sentence of 15 years to life.
A judge declared the dog that attacked Goodhue to be a danger. He gave the owner of the dog, Terry Moore, 14 days to determine whether he wanted to euthanize the dog or remove it from the county after neutering it and permanently caging and muzzling it. Local media says that Moore opted to move the dog out of the county. The dog’s whereabouts are now unknown.
Vladimir Tsirkin & Associates, P.A. understand the serious nature of dog attack cases, and we provide aggressive representation to our injured clients. Reach out to our Fort Lauderdale dog attack attorney a call now to discuss the particulars of your case at 954-687-9787.
