Resident recounts dog attack and criticizes police handling; mayor and chief promise follow-up

A Zion resident told the City Council she was severely injured when two pit bulls attacked her in her yard on Oct. 22 and criticized the police response and her husband's subsequent treatment in jail.

Janet Waits described being dragged into the street and said her husband fired a shot into the ground to stop the attack. She said he was charged with four felonies, taken to jail without clothing or appropriate medical accommodations for an existing foot condition, and she had difficulty learning where he had been held. "If my neighbor had come out, I believe those dogs would have killed me," she said.

Waits also criticized bystanders who watched the attack and claimed emergency responders prioritized the people in a white van over the victim. A nearby resident (Virgil Bates, who spoke afterward) raised concerns about officers not following up promptly on where dogs went after the incident and questioned animal-control response.

Mayor McKinney acknowledged the complaint, apologized for what happened and said Chief Barnes would speak with Waits after the meeting to follow up. The mayor encouraged residents to call nonemergency lines to report leash-law violations and said the police chief would address the incident directly.

The council did not take formal action during the meeting; the record shows the mayor directed staff/the chief to follow up with the speaker.