Published in the March 2, 2017 edition
North Reading Police got a boost from social media in finding this dog owner to investigate an incident where two people were allegedly bitten. (Courtesy Photo)
NORTH READING – Police are continuing to review an incident last Friday where a small child and then a woman were apparently bitten by a leashed dog at Ipswich River Park.
Town resident Lauren Silverio posted an image the morning after the incident onto the North Reading Community Connection group on Facebook, which has more than 2,000 members. The image showed a man with his back to the camera walking away with a medium sized black dog. Silverio said the woman was bitten when she tried to follow the man to get his information as he left the scene, and that her son had begun receiving rabies shots because of uncertainty over whether the dog was vaccinated.
Police and animal control were notified of the incident soon after, and numerous residents shared the image of the man and his dog throughout the weekend on their own social media accounts.
Early Sunday afternoon, North Reading Police announced on their own Facebook account that the owner and dog had been located, and that he was now cooperating with proper quarantine procedures. North Reading Police Lieutenant Tom Romeo told the Transcript that the owner had not turned himself in, but had apparently been identified by somebody using social media. He added that the case remains under review and that charges could still potentially be filed.
