A jogger from Oakland, California, used pepper spray to defend herself against a dog attack. While she believed she was foiling the canine attack, she still ended up with bite marks and bruises but not from the dog, but from the dog’s owner.
The attack took place last Thursday at the Anthony Chabot Regional Park on the Goldenrod Trail near the Oakland City Stables and the Chabot Equestrian Center.
Police detained Alma Cadwalader, 19-year-old owner of the dog, the next day after requesting assistance from the public to track the assailant down.
According to Inside Edition, the East Bay Regional Park Police Department police published a video of the assault taken from the cellphone of the jogger.
Lt. David Phulps informed journalists that human teeth were responsible for the bite marks of the victim.
For battery and false imprisonment, Cadwalader was arrested. She was also charged with robbery for allegedly trying to remove the pepper spray from the jogger.
However, through KTVU, her lawyer, Emily Dahm, said that Cadwalader was only protecting her dog whose face had swelled up due to the pepper spray.
Dahm said Cadwalader told the jogger to stop spraying her dog. Cadwalader had to wrestle the pepper spray from her when she didn’t stop, but the jogger began to grab her hair and kick her groin.
So, during the scuffle, Cadwalader ended up biting the jogger in the arm, her lawyer said.
The jogger reported the incident to the police instantly, who were able to obtain from a judge an arrest warrant.
If sentenced, she could be in jail for six years.
However, her lawyer repeated that to safeguard her dog, Cadwalader had to act violently.
The defendant did not report the incident to the police because she was too astonished and worried about the situation of her dog.
Alma Cadwalader
Therefore, the lawyer is pressing for the charges to be dropped as this is not a criminal case.
Reports revealed that Cadwalader was walking two dogs without their leashes in the park, as it was within the rules.
The Anthony Chabot Regional Park is known as a dog-friendly sanctuary and has an off-leash area.
But one dog ran up to the jogger, which the police said tried to attack the victim so she was forced to take out her pepper spray.
