Alsip police are waiting for lab results of a pit bull that fatally mauled a 76-year-old woman to determine if the animal has a rabies or some other disease, officials said.
Police were summoned around 3:30 p.m. Monday to Dorothy Ford’s home in the 11600 block of Komensky Avenue, where they found her and the dog on the back deck. Police put the dog down after it acted aggressively toward them.
A neighbor heading back home with his dog had called 911 after seeing the Ford lying on the back deck with the dog on top of her. The neighbor previously had noticed the two grappling, but assumed they were “rough housing,” Chief Jay Miller said.
Miller said the 6-year-old dog belonged to a relative of Ford and had lived in the home since it was a puppy. “We never had any calls” to the home about the dog, he said.
A formal cause of death from the Cook County medical examiner’s office is pending.
The most recent dog attack in Alsip — three years ago — also involved a pit bull, Miller said.
“It’s like every time there’s an incident like this, it involves this breed,” he said, adding, “but there is nothing definitive that they’re any more dangerous than other breeds.”
Dennis Sullivan is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.