A woman who was brutally attacked by a dog at a Los Angeles Animal Services facility was awarded $6.8 million by a jury on Tuesday.
Kelly Kaneko volunteered for LAAS at a Lincoln Heights facility in 2019 when a 100-pound German shepherd mix named Jaxx latched onto her arm for five minutes, nearly costing her a limb, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Despite a history of biting his previous owner and “aggressive” behavior, staff did not warn Kaneko that Jaxx was dangerous, only that he was “grumpy,” the Times reported.
Further compounding the damage, Kaneko was largely alone with Jaxx, and while he remained latched to her arm, she had to drag him around the facility for about five minutes before finding a staffer who could help her.
At that point, she’d suffered serious enough injuries that doctors feared she’d lose her hand. While the limb was saved, a full recovery has proved impossible.
“When she arrived at the ER, her hand was officially dead,” said Kaneko’s attorney Ivan Puchalt. “Her hand gets less blood now than it used to. It always feels cold. And it’s often a different color. She has a very faint pulse and it’s a very serious injury despite the amazing work they did. She hasn’t been made whole.”