SAN ANTONIO – A dog seized by Bexar County sheriff’s deputies after the mauling of a man Thursday had attacked once before, according to an arrest affidavit and people who live in the far Northwest Side neighborhood.
The grey and white pit bull is now in custody and under quarantine, a Bexar County spokeswoman said.
Deputies also arrested the dog’s owner, Veronica Polley, 39, on an attack by a dog charge.
The affidavit states that the 43-year-old man and his wife were walking their dog on Shooter Cove when Polley’s pit bull began attacking it.
Court records indicate that the man fended off the dog while his wife escaped into their home with their pet.
However, Polley’s dog then turned on the man, tearing into his lip and face.
“I’m just beside myself that this happened to him,” one neighbor, who did not want to reveal her identity, told KSAT on Friday.
That woman said she had her own frightening run-in with the same dog in October 2023.
While walking her pet in the area, she said Polley’s dog suddenly ran from its home and charged at her.
“It knocked me down. I broke one of my toes,” the woman said. “The dog was not provoked in any way. As soon as it saw another animal, it would attack.”
The neighbor said her dog was bitten and had to undergo treatment that cost her about $600.
Back then, the woman asked sheriff’s deputies to remove the dog from its home, but they told her they could not do so.
“Because it did not bite a person, it only tore up another dog, that they could only file the report and keep the dog restrained,” the woman said.
KSAT reached out to the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office on Friday, which said it created its Animal Crimes Enforcement (ACE) unit in November 2024.
According to a statement from the sheriff’s office, ACE “ensures that owners of animals who escape, are roaming free, bite, injure, or attack humans or animals, are held accountable.”
Since the 2023 attack, the neighbor and others said they have been worried about who might be hurt next because they have seen Polley’s dog roaming freely and behaving aggressively.
“We’re just concerned for the kids in the neighborhood,” said another woman, who also wanted to remain anonymous.
The second neighbor said she saw the latest attack play out on video captured by her home’s security camera. They are images she now said she can’t forget.
She described the 43-year-old man’s mauling as a “brutal attack” that should not have happened.
“I was so scared. I was scared for the man that got attacked,” the second neighbor told KSAT. “I was just praying to God that he was going to be OK.”
KSAT 12 News spoke off-camera with the wife of that latest victim.
She said he had undergone surgery, but she has a long road to recovery.
More coverage of this story on KSAT: