Detroit man shot at dog mauling a neighbor. He missed — and got charged in her death.
A Detroit woman was going for a walk in October when a stray dog suddenly charged at her and began to attack, witnesses said.
Patricia Cosby, 55, yelled for help from her neighbors on Oct. 9, 2017, as the stray dog dragged her into the street and mauled her, according to Detroit police. That’s when her friend and neighbor — Michael Lewis Williams, 61 — tried to step in, WDIV reports.
“I was just trying to do what she asked me to do, to help her,” Williams told WXYZ in the days after the October attack. “I just did all I could to try to help her.”
Williams, who has a license to carry a concealed weapon, then shot his gun in the direction of the attacking dog. Instead of hitting and killing the dog, though, Williams struck Cosby. She later died of her wounds, the Detroit Free Press reports.
Wayne County prosecutors have charged Williams this week with careless discharge of a weapon causing injury or death, according to court records. He’s scheduled to be arraigned on Friday, the Free Press reports.
Once his neighbor had been wounded by his shots, Williams picked her up and took her to his porch, he told the newspaper. After that, he tried to go after the dog, he said.
“It just hurts when you’re trying to help somebody and then they get hurt, trying to save their life,” Williams told the Free Press.
Police told WDIV that they didn’t doubt Williams’ shots that hit Cosby were an accident.
Police also said they looked for the dog afterward with no success.
“We have checked the area for the initial dog that caused the mauling, and we have not located it yet,” Detroit police Capt. Darin Szilagy told the TV station. “We do believe that dog may have been wounded, and we have been canvassing the area to try to do due diligence to locate this animal.”
Crosby’s father told WXYZ that part of the problem is the number of stray dogs in the neighborhood where his daughter was attacked.
“I want them to catch all the dogs. There is a lot of loose dogs in that area I was told,” he told the TV station. “She was a beautiful lady… a beautiful lady.”
This story was originally published March 15, 2018 at 6:56 PM with the headline "Detroit man shot at dog mauling a neighbor. He missed — and got charged in her death.."