DA Undecided In Case Of Jogger Who Claims She Was Bitten By Teen On Oakland Trail

OAKLAND (KPIX) - Prosecutors were trying to determine whether to bring charges in a bizarre case that start on an Oakland hiking trail and ended with a nasty bite, not from a dog, but from a human.

A woman jogger claims she was attacked by a dog and then bitten by the dog's owner, and has photos showing the scars.

The other woman claims her dog was pepper-sprayed and has video showing the dog with a swollen eye.

On Monday, two very different versions of what allegedly happened were presented by the jogger and the defendant's lawyers.

The 19-year-old defendant says she was acting in self-defense.

John O'Conner is the victim's attorney.

"It wasn't just a bite where she let go with her teeth, she kept her teeth sunk in the arm, until she was able to grab the pepper spray" he said.

"This is my clients arm," he said pointing to a photo.

The photos are hard to look at.

Attorney Emily Dahm represents the dog owner, 19-year-old Alma Cadwalader. She says her client was acting in self-defense.

"That's the classic thing you do when you are defending yourself when someone is attacking you and you can't get them to let go of you – you don't bite a little. You bite hard and you don't let go," she says.

Dahn says her client's Shepard-Husky mix ran up alongside the jogger. She says shortly after, the jogger overreacted and pepper-sprayed the dog.

The jogger lawyer says her client was attacked 20 minutes later.

"My client finished her run and looped back, as she is wont to do," says O'Conner. "When she came back the other way, the owner approached her aggressively, and got in her path."

"I don't know where that's coming from," says Dahm. "That's not at all what's happened. This was not a two-part encounter - this happened all at one time."

"The assailant then started biting into her jacket, so violently she tore the jacket, bit through the jacket, and the result is the bite mark we're showed you," says O'Conner.

"This was an unprovoked, unwarranted attack on my client's dog, and then on her," says Dahm.

The teen faces three felony charges after biting the jogger but on Monday,m the District Attorney continued the arraignment. No charges were filed as they continue to review the case.