‘She ripped my face off’: Northern California dog deemed vicious accused in second attack

A dog that attacked a Trinidad couple and their dog last year and was deemed vicious by the courts allegedly attacked another man on Jan. 28, necessitating an airlift to UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento.

Pablo King said the dog, a roughly 70-pound mixed pit bull named Claudia, repeatedly leapt for his jugular, teeth snapping inches from his throat and snagging against his face, during a 49ers game he watched at his brother-in-law’s house in Eureka. The dog’s owner, Marc Brodell, was staying at the home with his pet, and King said Brodell told him the pet – who was kept in the backyard – would not harm him before he walked to the yard and the alleged attack began.

“She (Claudia) kind of fell on my fist, like my fist blocked my neck and instead of biting my neck, she kind of glanced off of it and she ripped my face off,” King said.

King estimated he was fending Claudia off, who was repeatedly jumping toward him, for about two minutes maximum before Brodell and others heard the struggle and rushed to the backyard, where Brodell calmed the dog.

King and his wife, Mayra Guzman Sanches, have not received the hospital bill yet, but while they have insurance – though UC Davis is outside of their plan’s network – they expect it to be exorbitant given King was flown from St. Joseph Hospital in Eureka to Sacramento for surgery. King was released and must return in the next few months for doctors to determine if he suffered nerve damage. King and Guzman Sanchez said they were seriously considering legal action against Brodell, who did not respond to questions sent via Facebook by the Times-Standard’s print deadline.

Claudia was formally declared vicious in March 2023 after she, unleashed, attacked Ted Pease, his wife Brenda and dog Stella in Trinidad, severing part of Pease’s finger. The attack prompted the Trinidad City Council to send a letter to all residents and post additional signage reminding them of the city’s leash laws.

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Pease said an additional attack is exactly what he feared after he was bitten last year, and called on the county to address holes in local ordinances pertaining to dog attacks.

“The concern is then, how does the county, how does law enforcement react to this? And in this case, this dog fell right through the cracks,” Pease said. “If this had been a kid, this had been a child, this had been somebody smaller who was less able to defend himself…”

The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office contacted Brodell, but he did not have the dog and “he has not provided access to the animal to law enforcement,” said Humboldt County Sheriff William Honsal in an email.

The Eureka Police Department received the HCSO report and is pursuing the case.

“We have taken a case on the dog bite and the owner of the dog waived his right to a hearing and we are moving forward with a determination based on our investigation and the historical information concerning the dog and its owner,” EPD Chief Brian Stephens said via email.

Jackson Guilfoil can be reached at 707-441-0506.