A woman out for a morning jog on Long Island suddenly found herself being chased by two dogs that had escaped from a nearby home.
Then someone tried to help her. The dogs went after him, too.
The jogger’s husband came outside after learning what was happening, and he became another target. By the time the Aug. 10 incident in Dix Hills, New York, was over, multiple people had been attacked, and a married couple had suffered several bite wounds.
The dogs eventually returned home, but the dispute surrounding them didn’t end there. Neighbors said there had been trouble before, the owners offered an explanation for how the dogs kept getting loose, and less than two weeks after the attack, a judge ordered both animals removed from the property.
A Morning Jog Turns Into a Series of Attacks
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The Aug. 10 attack was captured by surveillance cameras in the Dix Hills neighborhood.
According to Suffolk County police information reported by News 12, officers responded to Blossom Street shortly before 10 a.m. following a 911 call reporting that two people had been bitten.
Police said two pit bulls had escaped from a residence on nearby Penn Drive.
The surveillance footage obtained by CBS New York shows the dogs initially moving around a front yard while a woman jogs along the opposite side of the street.
Both dogs then run across the road after her.
The woman disappears from the camera’s view as the dogs pursue her, but the encounter continues for several minutes. A neighbor, Anthony Long, went outside and attempted to intervene.
That put him in the middle of it.
Long later told News 12 that he pulled one dog away before the other came toward him. At one point, he said, he used one of the dogs to block the other.
The jogger’s 65-year-old husband, Larry Ballerau, also came outside and was attacked.
Ballerau described being knocked around as the dogs bit at him. Video shows him struggling to remain upright before falling into the street as the animals continue going after him.
Police said Ballerau and his 63-year-old wife suffered several bite wounds. Both were taken to Huntington Hospital with injuries that were not considered life-threatening.
The Dogs Had Been Out Before
The Aug. 10 attack wasn’t the first time neighbors said the same dogs had escaped.
Residents told ABC7 New York that the animals had also gotten loose in July and attacked a teenager riding an e-bike.
That earlier incident has been described by neighbors in multiple reports, rather than confirmed in the available police account of the Aug. 10 attack.
For people living nearby, however, the two incidents were enough to create a larger dispute over whether the dogs could safely remain at the home.
The dogs’ owners, Helen and Anastasia Tarnaras, disputed the characterization of their animals as vicious.
Anastasia Tarnaras identified the dogs as Buddy and Henna. She told CBS New York that Henna is an 18-month-old rescue that had previously been abused and said both animals sleep in the family’s bed.
She also offered an explanation for how they had gotten out.
According to Tarnaras, a gardener accidentally left the gate open before the July incident. She said a realtor left the gate open before the Aug. 10 attack.
The family subsequently put a padlock on the gate.
The Dispute Moves to Court
Whatever disagreement remained over the dogs’ temperament, authorities were now dealing with the more concrete issue of keeping them contained.
CBS reported that the owners received a notice to comply related to violations of New York state and Huntington town animal-control requirements.
Neighbors continued pushing for action after the Aug. 10 attack, while Tarnaras criticized them for taking the dispute to court rather than approaching her directly.
On Friday, Aug. 21, the situation changed again.
A Suffolk County judge ordered Buddy and Henna removed from the Dix Hills home, according to a News 12 report on the court hearing.
The dogs were taken to the Town of Huntington Animal Shelter, where they are expected to remain while the case moves forward.
Their removal isn’t a final resolution of the case. Another court hearing is scheduled for Aug. 26.
For now, though, the two dogs seen chasing a jogger and attacking people who came to her aid are no longer at the Penn Drive home.