Woman Bites, Punches Jogger Who Pepper-Sprayed Her Dog

A woman was arrested Friday after she bit a jogger who pepper-sprayed her dog at a San Francisco Bay Area park, California.

Alma Cadwalader, 19, had taken her two pets for a walk on a trail in Anthony Chabot Regional Park in Castro Valley on Thursday when one of them tried to bite a jogger. The latter then used pepper spray to fend off the animal.

Cadwalader then tackled and punched the jogger and when the latter tried to push her away, she bit the woman's forearm, leaving "significant wounds".

Lt. Terrence Cotcher of the East Bay Regional Park District Police Department said Friday that the dog owner bit the jogger on the forearm, leaving an “angry, round wound.” By the time police reached the scene, the woman had left the park with her dogs.

“A heated exchange and fairly violent confrontation occurred. The suspect bit the victim. It was only human to human, no canine to human bite,” Cotcher said, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

Post the incident, police released a blurry screen grab — taken from a video the victim recorded — of the suspect with a dog and asked the public to help identify her.

Alameda County judge issued a warrant against the suspect and within few hours, she was arrested by police and charged on suspicion of battery with serious bodily injury, robbery for allegedly taking the victim’s pepper spray and false imprisonment with violence. She was booked at Santa Rita Jail, Dublin. It was not clear if the suspect had an attorney.

In a similar incident, a woman turned herself in after the dog she had looked after for a month bit another woman on a restaurant patio in Colorado in August 2018.

CCTV footage of the incident showed the dog attacking and latching on to the victim’s face after she leaned in to the animal and tried patting it. While other people tended to her, the owner fled the place with the dog. The woman was then taken to a hospital where she underwent plastic surgery on her face. She also suffered severe eye injuries, Mirror reported.

“It was quite shocking that it had happened. We’ve never had any problems with dogs on our patio before,” said Cindy Nigg, the manager of the restaurant, CBS Local reported.

Post the incident, the restaurant denied entry of dogs.

“I’m sorry that this happened, and obviously it won’t happen again. We’re sorry it happened on our property, at all,” said Nigg.