Her face in bandages, Courtney McGarry kept silent as her mother spoke of her daughter’s ordeal.
At a press conference held Wednesday morning inside local lawyer Bart Betteau’s office, Michelle McGarry said, “She had petted the dog and the dog bit her.”
The bite heard around New Albany occurred Monday afternoon around 2 p.m. at Hazelwood Middle School. Sixth-grader Courtney and a handful of other students were given permission to pet New Albany Police Department dog Condor by his handler, Officer Mike Isom, following a classroom demonstration on how dogs can be used for patrols and drug searches. It’s unclear why the dog got spooked near Courtney.
“It does make me angry,” the elder McGarry said of the incident. “It should’ve never happened.
“My kid’s been scarred for life.”
Under the bandage on her daughter’s cheek are 15 stitches mending the wound from the dog. It may take up to 18 months for the 11-year-old’s wounds to completely heal and, in the meantime, McGarry said her daughter is taking antibiotics to ward off infection and has consulted a plastic surgeon about her injuries.
“It’s sore...it hurts,” McGarry relayed. “We don’t know if there will be any more surgeries.”
McGarry has retained Betteau to represent her daughter in a possible legal suit against the city.
The city has offered to pay all of Courtney’s medical expenses related to the dog bite.
“I’m going to seek everything that she is entitled too, which is more than the cost of a few stitches,” Betteau said.
In about a month, Betteau said he expects to know what legal avenue, if any to pursue.
New Albany City Attorney Shane Gibson hasn’t been contacted by Betteau concerning the matter, but said, “It’s unfortunate that it happened and I’m more than willing to sit down and talk with them and see what can be done.”Despite her anger toward the incident, McGarry said she and her daughter remain animal lovers. The New Albany family does not own any dogs, but has three cats.
NAPD Chief Merle Harl said earlier this week Condor will remain on the force to perform patrols and drug searches but will likely not return to schools for classroom demonstrations. Harl also said it is the department’s policy not to allow people to pet K-9s.
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