thedailytimes.com : Your 24/7 news source

Friend or foe, the sign on the door at 3053 Old Whites Mill Road says the dog inside will bite. And a Maryville animal control officer found out the hard way Thursday that sometimes a door -- especially that particular door -- is no match for a pair of unruly pit bulls.

A 44-year-old Blount County woman was arrested Thursday after her two dogs reportedly attacked and seriously injured the officer.

Deborah Kay Dyer, 44, Old Whites Mill Road, was apparently home at the time of the attack, and according to a Blount County Sheriff's report, a witness told deputies that "it did not appear that the dogs' owner (Dyer) ... did anything to try and get the dogs off of (the animal control officer)."

Maryville animal control Officer Kenneth C. Crowder, 36, was attacked by the pit bulls after they crashed through the front door of the residence, responding to him knocking at the door. Crowder was assisted by a Blount County Sheriff's deputy who also responded to the scene. The two were eventually able to keep the dogs at bay. According to the deputy's report on the incident, Crowder was bleeding from his face, left arm and left leg and had suffered "severe lacerations from bites by both dogs."

According to Maryville Police Chief Tony Crisp, Crowder had responded to the home on Old Whites Mill Road on a request from Blount County for mutual aid to pick up the two pit bulls -- which had a history of aggression and violence. According to a Blount County Sheriff's report from Feb. 10, the dogs attacked a 15-year-old boy, sending him to the hospital with bite wounds on his arms, chest, back and abdomen.

A letter from Blount County Sheriff James Berrong to Maryville Deputy Chief Greg Cooke, indicates that the dogs also previously killed a "smaller breed dog" that belonged to one of Dyer's' neighbors. In that same letter, Berrong requested that Cooke euthanize the dogs -- which were being held by the Maryville Police Department.

Crisp said the dogs were scheduled to be killed early today.

The dogs had been taken into custody and quarantined after the Feb. 10 attack, but Berrong said they were released back to the owners after 10 days. The Sheriff's Office had an agreement with an individual to allow the dogs to be euthanized, but it turned out the man they had the agreement with was not actually the owner of the dogs, Berrong said. After the dogs were released back to Dyer, the BCSO asked Maryville to assist in picking the dogs up again.

According to Crisp, Crowder went to Dyer's' home to retrieve the dogs and when he knocked on the door "the dogs came busting through the door."

Crowder attempted to hold back the dogs using his baton and other measures, but the pit bulls "just continuously attacked him," Crisp said. "They had to use some force to get the dogs off of him."

Crowder was taken by Rural/Metro Ambulance Service to Blount Memorial Hospital where he was treated and released.

Dyer was arrested and charged with reckless endangerment, because, according to the BCSO report, "she willfully and knowingly failed to prevent the attack on (Crowder)." She was free on a $5,000 bond pending a future court appearance.