The United States Postal Service has designated this week as National Dog Bite Awareness Week. The purpose of the designation is to bring attention to the staggering amount of dog bites postal service employees suffer every year. According to the USPS, 5,300 workers were bitten by dogs last year. In a press release about the event, the USPS outlines several ways citizens and postal workers can prevent dog bites. It also ranks Kansas City as having the 8th most dog bites of any city in the country, and Missouri as one of the top ten states in the country for dog bites.
But what should postal workers do if they are bitten by a dog? As personal injury lawyers handling dog bite cases in the Kansas City area, Meyerkord, Russell & Hergott has handled hundreds of these cases. Here are a few tips and pieces of advice if you are an unfortunate victim of a dog bite.
Notify the dog owner in writing as soon as reasonably possible. Obviously, if you are injured by a dog, your first priority should be medical attention. Your health is the most important thing. Once your injury is under control and not life threatening, call the owner of the dog, tell them about the attack and your injuries, and ask for their homeowners or renters insurance information. Then, follow that call up with a letter, text, or email. It is important to have a paper trail of your notification.
Call the police and make a report. Having a report from the police provides solid proof of your dog attack and can help prevent the dog owner from denying it. Police reports also provide basic information such as the where and when of the attack. Furthermore, police departments may have information about prior attacks from the dog which can help greatly with your case.
Finally, if the attack happened at an apartment complex or in a neighborhood with a homeowner’s association, be sure to notify the apartment or HOA manager. This can help prevent future dog attacks, and can help you uncover previous attacks from the same dog.
If you’ve been attacked by a dog and have questions about making a claim for money compensation for your injuries, please contact Meyerkord, Russell & Hergott. We have handled hundreds of dog bite cases in the ten-plus years we have been in practice and can help you with your case.