Families speak out after Beaverdale woman bit by dog

By Kayla James

Click here for updates on this story

    DES MOINES, Iowa (KCCI) — Two families are speaking up after a dog owned by one of them attacked a member of the other family in Beaverdale, leaving her with two puncture wounds in her legs.

According to a statement shared by the Kandzic family, 59-year-old Endjada Kandzic was on a walk Monday afternoon when she says she was attacked.

Des Moines police told KCCI the German Shepard mix left the yard after the owners’ daughter inadvertently left the gate open. That’s when the dog bit Kandzic on her legs, puncturing the skin.

The family sent the following statement to KCCI, detailing the attack:

I have been living in Beaverdale for nearly 16 years. Throughout those years I have enjoyed going on walks within the vicinity of my neighborhood until I was viciously attacked by a German Shepard from behind. I have suffered puncture wounds and have gone through severe emotional distress as a result of this unprovoked attack. I find that the owners need to be held accountable for their failure to properly secure the dog. I have hired an attorney, Zana Bajric of Schweitzer and Bajric Attorneys at Law to assist me pursuing legal action regarding this incident.

However, the woman who owns the 3-year-old dog says he made it outside to the front due to a fluke.

“We had our internet installed through CenturyLink,” said Rachel, who didn’t wish to share her last name. “CenturyLink went out through my gate and they didn’t tell us the back gate was still open.”

Rachel says one of her daughters was walking their dog, Duke, to his leash in the backyard. According to Rachel, her daughter is in a cast because two of her fingers are broken. She says the dog — who was already on a leash heading to the leash in the backyard — slipped out of her daughter’s hand, ran out of the gate, and went after Kandzic, who was walking around the block.

In a video shared with KCCI from a home security came, Rachel’s daughter is seen chasing after him.

“Once she realized he was out the gate, she was gone,” said Rachel. “My daughter was gone. She was bolting after him.”

However, the dog had already made it to the woman.

“He got her on both sides of her legs,” said Rachel.

Kandzic’s daughter tells us her mother was bit in the shin and the backside of her calf.

“I was the one that called 911,” said Rachel. “The officers and the paramedics showed up and they looked at her bites and they told her that her bites weren’t that bad.”

Rachel says her family adopted Duke from the ARL and the came from an abusive home.

“I’m not a bad dog owner,” said Rachel. “I have looked into training and getting help with him, but training and getting help — it goes from anywhere from $2,000 to $9,000 and personally, I don’t have that kind of money.”

In addition to a dog-at-large citation and home quarantine, Rachel says she received a paper early Wednesday defining Duke as “high risk.”

“He’s got to be on a six-foot leash. He’s got to be walked by somebody 18 and over. He’s got to be let out by somebody 18 and over,” said Rachel.

Duke is several days into his 10-day quarantine, meaning he can’t be in the front yard and he has to be on a leash even when in the backyard.

Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.