No charging decision yet in dispute over jogger bite in Oakland Hills
OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- For the first time, we're hearing from the attorney for a jogger who was allegedly bitten by a dog owner after that jogger pepper sprayed her dogs. The incident happened Thursday morning at Chabot Regional Park in Oakland Hills. Police later arrested the dog owner.
The bite mark on jogger Cyndi Stainer's arm isn't from a dog but rather a dog's owner.
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"My client is a victim of a very horrendous assault," said attorney John O'Connor.
O'Connor is representing Stainner who is 48-year-old. Thursday morning 19-year-old Alma Cadwalader bit Stainner after she pepper-sprayed Cadwalader's dogs.
O'Connor says one of Cadwalader's two dogs bit Stainner's shorts though the dog didn't get Stainner's skin.
"The next bite was going to be of her skin she feared. She did not directly pepper spray the dogs she sprayed above their heads because she has experience and knows that any animal will simply be distracted," said O'Connor.
A point Cadwalader's attorney disputes.
"There is no bite, there's no nip, there's no barking even," said the dog owner's attorney Emily Dahm.
O'Connor says Stainner hired him after Cadwalader's attorney held a press conference suggesting Stainner was the assailant.
"When she had my client's hair in her hand my client bit to get her to release her and all she had done in this case was first to defend her dogs against an unprovoked attack and then herself from yet another unprovoked attack," said Dahm during the press conference.
O'Connor claims Cadwalader waited for Stainner 20 minutes after she pepper sprayed the dogs as she finished her run.
"Throws her to the ground hits her on the head several times, my client has suffered a concussion she's had it diagnosed," said O'Connor.
"Finally the owner bit her so hard that she bit through the jacket," continued O'Connor.
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O'Connor says Stainner is an ER Nurse who is also a dog owner.
Police arrested Cadwalader on battery, false imprisonment and robbery charges.
The Alameda County District Attorney's Office says it has not yet made a charging decision.
