A Lower Saucon Township resident is recovering from injuries he received in an alleged attack by a neighbor’s dog, according to township police, who announced charges against the canine’s owner Friday.
According to police, when the dog–which is described in court papers as a pit bull mix–allegedly attacked the Green Pine Lane resident June 5, it was the fourth such incident to occur in a little over six months.
Police identified the dog’s owner as 78-year-old Wallace Warren Bright of the 3500 block of Reservoir Road and said officers spoke to him in relation to the three prior incidents, with two incidents resulting in the issuance of citations for alleged Pennsylvania dog law violations. Bright’s dog was also previously quarantined for a period of 10 days, police said.
On the morning of June 5, police said the Green Pine Lane resident was walking to the corner of Reservoir Road to pick up a child at a school bus stop when the dog allegedly “ran through the fence at the Bright residence and attacked him.”
Police said the dog then ran back inside the yard, while the man retreated to his driveway, where officers found him seated with “visible injuries on his left hand, forearm, left calf and right leg.”
In the criminal complaint filed as part of the case against Bright, police said that in addition to emergency treatment at the hospital, the man who was bitten also had surgery performed on his hand on June 6.
Police also detailed the three prior alleged incidents involving the Bright dog in the complaint, the first of which they said happened on Nov. 22, 2022.
In that case, police said a woman was walking her dog on Green Pine Lane when Bright’s dog allegedly left his property and attacked them.
An officer who responded to the scene found the woman with injuries to her hand and a laceration “consistent with a dog bite,” according to police, who in the complaint described how the woman’s dog escaped its harness and she fell over trying to catch it, before kicking at Bright’s dog in an effort to fend it off.
No charges were filed in that case at the victim’s request, police said, but officers did issue Bright a warning.
Nearly five months elapsed before police said they documented another alleged incident involving the dog, which they said occurred April 11 when it was reported that it had left Bright’s property and snapped at the same man who would later be identified as the victim in the June 5 attack.
On May 20, police said another report was filed after Bright’s dog allegedly attacked a 13-year-old girl, “leaving her with a bite wound on the back portion of her left upper arm with puncture marks from long teeth.”
Following both reported attacks, police said Bright was cited for “Confinement of Dogs” under the dog law, and following the May 20 alleged attack they said he was additionally cited for harboring a dangerous dog.
In a Crimewatch post Friday, police said that as a result of the alleged June 5 attack by his dog, Bright has been cited for the same two dog law violations and also charged with misdeamenor 2 Recklessly Endangering Another Person.
According to court papers, Bright is still awaiting a preliminary arraignment on those charges, with a preliminary hearing before District Judge Alan Mege scheduled for Wednedsay, June 28 at 3 p.m. in Northampton County District Court 03-2-04 in Lower Saucon Township.
The court docket filed in the case did not list an attorney for Bright.
The criminal complaint did not disclose the status of Bright’s dog and whether or not it has been returned to quarantine.
Note: All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. This story was compiled using information from Lower Saucon Township Police and Northampton County court records.
