A woman who served as a state employee for the Alabama Department of Public Health died Friday after being attacked by a pack of dogs. The owner of the animals was arrested and charged with involuntary manslaughter, authorities reported.
The Franklin County Sheriff’s Office in Alabama identified the victim as Jacqueline Summer Beard, of 58 years. The state employee was following up on an attack by the same pack on another woman who was injured earlier in the week, and trying to track down the dog’s owner, WHNT reported.
“It is believed that Beard was attacked while trying to contact the dog’s owner when the dogs killed her,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement.
Officers responded to the area of Crumpton Road, after someone reported a suspicious vehicle. Residents of the area encountered the agents and several dogs began to attack them, resulting in minor injuries to one of the agents. Some of the dogs were immediately euthanized.
After the incident, police found Beard’s body in the suspect vehicle, and Coroner Charlie Adcox pronounced her dead.
Meanwhile, Brandy Lee Dowdy, aged 39, was arrested and charged with involuntary manslaughter. He also faces sanctions under the Emily Law, signed by Alabama Governor Kay Ivey in 2018.
Emily’s Law, which was named in memory of Emily Colvin, who was killed by dogs outside her home in Jackson County in 550 , establishes felony and misdemeanor charges based on the circumstances surrounding a dog attack.
Beard was supervisor environmentalist in Franklin, Marion and Winston counties, according to the Alabama Department of Public Health, where he worked for nearly 17 years, indicated AL.com
“The Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH) extends our deepest condolences to the family, friends and colleagues of Summer Beard, following her tragic death,” said Ryan Easterling, director of the department’s Health Media and Communications Division in a statement. “Summer was known by her co-workers as an exceptional person. She was a tremendous team worker and was loved by those who knew her.”
In the attack at the beginning of weeks that the victim was investigating with the police, the pack of dogs mutilated a woman while she was walking. She remains hospitalized in Mississippi so far, Franklin County Sheriff Shannon Oliver said.