Alabama girl killed by pack of canine; owner charged with manslaughter

An employee of the Alabama Division of Public Well being was killed by a pack of dogs within the northwestern a part of the state last week as she was responding to a report about another attack involving the identical canines earlier in the week, the Franklin County Sheriff's Workplace mentioned Friday on Fb.

Jacqueline Summer Beard was pronounced useless Friday by the Franklin County coroner after native residents known as the police to report a suspicious car, the sheriff's workplace stated. Officers discovered the automobile with Beard's body inside it in a rural space outside Crimson Bay, near the Mississippi line, in response to the Fb put up.

Beard is believed to have been trying to contact the canine's proprietor — whom the sheriff's office identified as Brandy Dowdy, 39 — when the canine killed her, the sheriff's office mentioned.

AL.com, the web site of a number of Alabama newspapers, reported that Beard was a 58-year-old environmental supervisor and a longtime worker of the Public Well being Division. It reported that on Friday morning, she was following up on an incident earlier within the week through which the dogs attacked a girl who was walking. The woman remains hospitalized in Mississippi, AL.com reported.

When officers arrived at the scene, several dogs started attacking the residents, inflicting one in every of them to sustain minor injuries and among the dogs to be euthanized immediately, the sheriff's workplace said. Officers then discovered Beard's physique in the car, the sheriff's workplace said.

Dowdy was charged with manslaughter and is being held without bail, public information present.

The Franklin County Sheriff's Office could not immediately be reached for comment.

The Public Health Division didn't immediately reply to a request for remark.