Couple Charged After Toddler is Mauled to Death by Pitbull: Police

a Texas couple's alleged decision to. leave multiple children under the care. of an 11-year-old turned tragic when a. dog Broke Free and mauled a toddler to. death and now those adults are facing. serious charges welcome to sidebar. presented by law on crime I'm Jesse. [Music]. Weber on December 29th out in Witchita. Falls Texas what should have been a. routine babysitting Arrangement turned. into an absolute nightmare there's no. other way to explain it because Dedra.

wheeler and her husband L Charles Ramsey. are now facing multiple charges of child. endangerment after apparently their. Pitbull got loose and attacked and. killed a 2-year-old girl that they were. supposed to be watching according to a. police report 911 gets this call from. someone who is in route to the hospital. with a 2-year-old child that had just. been attacked by a dog they told the. dispatcher that the toddler was bleeding. very badly was unresponsive officers. were flagged down at an intersection the.

child was taken to the hospital but that. 2-year-old girl sadly died and before we. get into more of the details of what is. truly an unthinkable and heartbreaking. case I got to bring in right now Paul. Cannon he's a personal injury attorney. he actually specializes in dog bite. cases Paul thank you so much for coming. on I imagine you've seen some really. horrific things in your practice this. case particularly devastating do you. deal with a lot of cases involving. children who are attacked by.

dogs and thank you for having me on. unfortunately it's very very common that. uh kids wind up to be the victims. because I mean who plays with dogs the. most and uh at the end of the day dogs. get out they see kids running and and. they're smaller and they you know they. often sadly become the target if a dog. gets overly aggressive or even just. overly playful and it turns into. something more dangerous generally. speaking what's the liability. responsibility in these cases how does. it.

work well so in state of Texas we are. one of about uh 18 states that go by the. one bite rule U majority of States out. there go by strict liability when you. own a dog you're responsible for it in. Texas you have to prove that the dog. owner was aware that their dog had. dangerous propensities um and therefore. Mak it an aggressive dog and that can be. that it was either bit someone in the. past or that it had acted aggressively. and attempted to bite someone in the.

past and uh uh even though it failed it. the owner now on notice that the dog is. an aggressive dog I I want everyone to. keep them in mind what Paul just said. about that because as we advance the. story and talk about the details I think. that knowledge component becomes key so. let's talk about what we know here so an. officer with the witch Falls Texas. Police Department spoke to Dedra wheeler. to try to find out what happened here. and she said she agreed to babysit this. toddler and her 8-month-old sibling. while their mother was at work so. wheeler says she picked those woman up.

from a local shelter dropped her off at. her job and then took the kids to her. house where they would be watched by. Wheeler's two oldest daughters who were. 19 and 16 years old now wheeler said. that she and Ramsay were away from the. home until about 400 p.m. and at that. point wheeler told the investigator that. she stayed home with the 19-year-old. while Ramsay took the 16-year-old to an. event a little while later the. 19-year-old left so wheeler was at the. house with the children the police. report reads she stated at approximately. 1700 hours their p broke out of its.

kennel she picked up the 8-month-old. child and the Pitbull then bit the. 2-year-old sibling and began to attack. her she stated she handed the. 8-month-old off to one of her children. and she began to get the dog off the. 2-year-old child with assistance from. Ramsay she stated she was able to get. the victim and they rushed her to the. hospital but flagged officers down at. Loop 11 in Seymour Highway she stated. she couldn't remember how the dog got. out because it happened so fast okay. Paul before I even get into some of the. problems in.

the accuracy of this story if those were. the facts if that was the actual uh fact. pattern we're looking at where she was. home this happened and let's just say. before we go further into the story that. this dog had never exhibited Behavior. like this in the past would she or her. husband be facing civil liability would. she and her husband be facing criminal. charges so it's interesting because I. mean I've read some stories that. suggested that the dog hadn't done this. in the in the past but under the.

circumstances had it not it falls into a. problem area in the one bite rule of dog. bite law because the one bite rule. basically says you've got to have. knowledge that you have a dangerous dog. now there can be indirect knowledge as. well for example why was the dog in a. cage why was it crated was it in there. because they'd had issues before that. maybe they aren't letting on but let's. assume it didn't then you're falling. under the old school negligence there is. a a scenario under negligence law where.

if you can show a dog that does not have. abnormally dangerous propensities like. that is in a circumstance when a. rational adult should should be aware. that there's a likelihood the dog could. attack or bite someone then they could. still be liable in this case if you've. got eight kids running around a house. two of them older but the six of them. younger they're making a lot of noise. that sort of thing you could make an. argument that there is negligence there. that they should know that this dog. could get riled up and spooked.

particularly with strangers in the house. and and may or may not act aggressively. under that circumstance so it's it's. questionable there's a possibility there. you go under negligence law but under. true one by rule the answer would be no. if there's no prior knowledge there's no. liability and I appreciate you breaking. that down because I haven't even gotten. into the worst part because apparently. that story wasn't true so the very next. day the officer gets a call from a CPS. investigator who said she had. information that neither Ramsay nor.

wheeler were home when this attack. happened yeah so they gathered up the. other kids to interview them about what. happened and it says quote through these. screenings and forensic interviews the. children stated neither Ramsay nor their. mother was home they stated they were. home and being watched by their. 19-year-old and 16-year-old sisters from. approximately 1220 hours until. approximately 1600 hours when Ramsay and. their mom both took their 19-year-old. and 16-year-old sisters to an event they. stated during this time Ramy left them.

at the house under the established care. of the 11-year-old daughter while they. were gone just process that for a second. the 11-year-old is now in charge so. according to these interviews when this. attack happened there were seven. children in this house ages 11 10 seven. plus six-year-old twins the 2-year-old. the 8-month-old. Paul this is a recipe for disaster I. think that's clear could you say as a. defense the older children 11 years old. you know we felt that she you know this.

11-year-old was responsible enough to. watch the children and watch the dog is. that a. defense you can say that um the evidence. sure doesn't seem to support it in this. case um the the interesting thing about. this case is the the prosecution has. multiple Avenues they can pursue this. under because of the dog having a prior. bite history not only do they have the. prosecution under the health and safety. codes that established the what is the. effectively the the one bite rule uh as. it's codified and the exceptions that it.

has based on criminal negligence but. they can also pursue this under a child. endangerment type of cause of action a. criminal cause of action and under that. my understanding is a child is defined. as anyone under the age of 14 which. means if I can leave an 11-year-old by. themselves and that can be considered. child endangerment then putting them in. charge of a bunch of smaller kids sure. doesn't go well to saying this was a. responsible thing to do so so let me ask. you a question because the report says. that this 11-year-old was actually.

cooking dinner or making dinner uh for. the children uh before anything happened. that a factor that weighs in favor of. these defendants now hey look she's. taking care of the children she's making. them dinner that doesn't affect it right. well I think it it it all goes to the. jury issue and when you're trying and. Prosecuting this case is was was it. reasonable for them to leave this child. in this position or not because anytime. a child is is in that age of anywhere. from being about six or seven on up to.

18 the the level of intelligence and. responsibility can vary drastically this. one's right kind of in that middle Zone. where some might say Well they're old. enough to babysit others might say no. they're not um and so I think that could. come into play uh but I think the real. problem you've got here is how did this. dog get out of a crate or cage or. whatever it was in obviously it was not. secure and that's a big issue. particularly if there's a prior history. uh of biting with the dog let me lay out. a little bit more details from the. report because I think it's important to.

understand exactly what we're talking. about how this went down so the report. continues the 11-year-old started to fix. dinner for the children and had called. her mom to see when she would be back. because the children were getting out of. control again 11-year-old watching all. of them during this conversation the dog. then broke out of the kennel and they. grabbed the 8-month-old but the dog then. bit and attacked the 2-year-old they. stated shortly after this attack started. their mom and Ramsay arrived back at the. residence so again they weren't there. got the child from the dog and fled.

towards the hospital and this is pretty. egregious because the police report says. each child quote stated this dog had. broke it down of the kennel before and. he had also bitten their 5-year-old. brother approximately one year ago. that's an allegation but if that is true. is that the end of the case here how do. you defend against it I think uh from a. criminal defense perspective you're in. you're in serious trouble here because. that's pretty hard that's pretty solid. evidence both on the civil and criminal. liability as aspect that puts you into.

the dangerous dog laws violations the. dangerous dog law has two basic rules. one is designed to address when a dog. gets out and is off the property but. there's a second one that addresses just. dogs that have bitten before. specifically and what it says is if a. dog uh commits unprovoked acts in a. place other than an enclosure where it. was being kept if those Acts cause a. person to either reasonbly ital attack. then you're dealing with a dangerous dog. at that point and this dog if it's bit. before if it's got out before if it's.

attacked another child before clearly. it's going to fall underneath that uh it. is going to be classified as a dangerous. dog even though it's not necessarily. been classified as a state once you have. a known dangerous dog you have an. obligation to keep it under lock and key. and the enclosure itself has to prevent. people from being able to get in not. just the dog from getting out so even if. a child opens the door and sticks their. hand in you're liable for that dog once. it's a dangerous dog in this case we got. a lot worse facts than that I think.

you're looking at um the criminal. penalties frankly worse facts apparently. they lied because the investigator in. the police report said that there was. video evidence that confirmed both. Ramsay and Wheeler left the home at. around 4:15 P p.m they were gone for. around 45 minutes didn't they suspect I. mean if this is true the digital. evidence in every one of the cases that. we. cover I don't know how you argue against. it and to say you were home when you. weren't that just add adds another layer.

to this already terrible case right Paul. correct absolutely um but I think that. so that that is what really brings up. the the child endangerment and the. reckless endangerment aspect of the case. the fact that they're out of the home. they're away from it but the punishment. phase under that is going to be a state. jail felony which is 180 days to two. years whereas when you get into where. they probably going to more children. right I think Wheeler's facing a Cruelty. to Children charge but if you get into.

the the dangerous dog statute itself now. you're looking at second and third. degree felony type charges that can be. brought which carry a much harsher. punishment so I think there to me is a. greater concern for if you're on the. defense side of this thing because these. people it it doesn't matter if they're. home or not they've got an obligation to. secure that dog and keep it away from. any kids getting near it whether they're. there or not I want to talk about those. criminal charges in a second I I just. want to focus one more thing just to. everybody process.

the level of responsibility placed on. this 11-year-old child is just. staggering Not only was she tasked with. caring for multiple young children but. now she had to deal with the presence of. what is a known or allegedly a known. aggressive dog it is a burden that no. child should have to bear and I should. tell you I let let everybody know after. the attack authorities had made the. decision to euthanize the dog Paul is. that usually what happens in these cases. is that usually what happens to these.

dogs so if the dog gets out and bites. somebody and it's just kind of a. incident where someone gets bit but it's. not necessarily A horribly aggressive. situation maybe you know it could be. mistaken as the dog just thought it was. playing or something like that they will. look at it and they will usually someone. from Animal Control will kind of. evaluate the situation they will a lot. of times make sure there's Insurance. make sure the person's warned that what. the situation is how they now have to. take care of the dog and they will. release the dog back to the owner but. when it's a particularly aggressive. situation like this or there's a death. involved they're almost always going to.

take it away and put the dog down by the. way might not have the answer to this. but I'm just curious not every dog bites. why do you see certain dogs engage in. this was this a situation where the dog. was uh you know not properly trained and. that is a that's a signal uh of a level. of responsibility and culpability here. or there just certain dogs that can't be. trained and that are always a danger I I. I'm just I'm trying to understand you. know having a pitbull like this um you.

know what do we see typically in these. kinds of cases is if you're seeing dogs. attack people um is that a situation. again the responsibility of the the pet. owner that they didn't properly train. this dog or is there nothing that can be. done well the reality is that any dog. can bite um I've seen the smallest. Chihuahua do do permanent scarring to. somebody's face because they look down. under the table to pick up something. they dropped and a dog happened to be. under there trying to find food and and. reacted and bit and all that comes down.

to the training the understanding you. know obviously dogs can have illnesses. mental illnesses whatever and that may. prevent a particular dog from being good. or bad as dog owners we have a. responsibility to understand our dog get. it whatever training it may need if it. has issues or whatever and learn how to. handle it properly and be aware of what. its inclinations are what its issues are. if I've got a dog like this that I know. has gotten out and bitten people before. then it should have a solid lock of some. kind on that crate and it should be put.

up somewhere where nobody can get. anywhere near it and not even get a. finger in the cage are pit bulls typical. kind of dog involved in these cases or. am I unfairly discriminating against. pitbulls so pitbulls a lot of times get. more of the press when it happens. because they are uh very strong powerful. animals and they can do a lot of damage. if they do get out there but percentage. wise I mean there's a lot of other dogs. out there I think German Shepherds are. the ones that the most bites are. reported for there's a lot of different. breeds out there that have been reported.

as well so I think you hear a lot more. about them doesn't necessarily mean. they're more often than other dogs it's. just that that's what the media seen you. know they look for the worst stories to. publish I think by the way we checked. into their backgrounds and we found that. both Ramsey and Wheeler have faced. criminal charges in the past for forgery. so we were able to use truthfinder the. powerful background Checker to find out. a little bit more about Ramsey all we. had to do was put in his name and his. profile popped up including past arrest. and yeah by the way long crime we. partner with truthfinder we use it to.

get details on people involved in our. stories but even if you don't work in. True Crime this just can be an excellent. resource to give you some peace of mind. after all it's one of the largest public. record search services in the United. States and with a paid subscription. service you can get access to unlimited. reports about almost anyone and right. now you can get 50% off of your first. month of confidential background reports. just go to truthfinder.com LC sidebar. now wheeler and Ramsay they are facing. the consequences of their alleged. choices in this case they were arrested. on January 27th that is nearly a month.

after this attack both have been charged. with multiple counts of endangering and. abandoning a child plus wheer faces one. count of injury to a child her bond was. set. $450,000 Ramsay had a bond of. $300,000 and the charges you got to say. reflect the severity of their alleged. actions abandoning or endangering a. child is a felony in Texas punishable as. we talked about up to 2 years in a state. facility the additional charge of injury. to a child that wheeler faces is even. more serious our understanding carries a.

potential sentence of up to 20 years in. prison Paul going back to what you said. about the criminal charges do I. understand that those penalties. correctly and could they be enhanced. could we see upgraded. charges um yeah so generally injury to a. child is considered a a third degree. felony which carries a possible sentence. of up to 10 years and and $10,000 fine. but there are circumstances where any. kind of felony can be considered. aggravated and or upgraded if it gets. upgraded to a secondary felony then yes.

you can get into that range of you know. 20 years so they could be facing some. pretty serious penalties for this and. talk about a lawsuit could we be seeing. a lawsuit here how would it work would. it even be worthwhile um if you're. talking about maybe the mother of this. 2-year-old um filing a lawsuit is it. worth it talk to me about what we could. be expecting they're not saying it's. happening but could we expect to see it. and how would it work let me answer it. this way yes you could very easily see a.

lawsuit in a case like this um we handle. probably 40 to 50 of these a year in the. Houston area and around Texas the. reality of these kind of cases is. there's a lot of investigation that. starts out because it isn't hard to win. the case it's where do you find the. coverage where do you find the insurance. coverage because most people are what. you call judgment proof in the state of. Texas you take a judgment against them. they just go file bankruptcy it's. cheaper to pay a bankruptcy lawyer 5,000. bucks to file bankruptcy than it is to. pay off a $200,000 judgment or whatever.

judgment you happen to get this one. could be Millions based on what we're. looking at damage wise first question. comes down to did they have Insurance. homeowners insurance is the first thing. you typically look at in these cases but. a lot of homeowners insurance companies. now exclude dog attacks um a lot of. homeowners aren't even aware that their. policy does not cover their dog and it's. because 650 to 750 million gets paid out. every year in homeowners claims for dog. bites in the United States and the. insurance companies are kind of like.

they're doing everything else in Texas. they're tired of paying for all the wind. damage and all the hail damage and. everything else cuz we have so much. going on and they don't want to keep. paying for this so they look for ways to. write exclusions around it you don't. read the policy carefully a lot of times. it'll exclude your dog it may exclude. certain breeds of dogs or it may exclude. all dogs together so if you find. coverage then the qu then you can bring. the claim then you can bring the. evidence and in this case it it seems. like the evidence is pretty clear-cut to. me for liability it's just a question of. is there going to be anything to pay. that judgment when you're done you know. Paul a lot of the cases that we cover.

the reason we choose to cover them is to. kind of bring awareness to issues out. there and you have here penalties that. definitely underscore the gravity of. leaving children or allegedly leaving. children unsupervised especially in. potentially dangerous situations how the. law recognizes that adults have a duty. to protect children in their care and. failing to do that can have severe legal. consequences and we're putting a. spotlight on this do you see a case like. this maybe being a form of deterrence. that will wake people up to not leave.

children unattended particularly with a. dog and maybe give a second thought. about how they're actually maintaining. and securing their dogs do you see cases. like this stories like this as a form of. deterrence I don't see it as a form of. deterrence because we see it over and. over again I wish it was a form of. deterrence I wish people would wake up. and read this but we all have a tendency. to have that oh it won't ever happen to. me attitude when it comes to our dog and. it comes to our family that's the. unfortunate part about this uh Paul.

Canon thanks so much for coming on. appreciate you uh breaking it down for. us really really sad case um but enjoy. talking to you thank you thank you very. much for having me and that's all we. have for you here on this episode of. sidebar everybody thank you so much for. tuning in be sure to subscribe here on. YouTube or check us out on Apple podcast. Spotify wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Jesse Weber I'll speak to you next. time. [Music].