Bomb-sniffing dog bites woman at Atlanta airport

ATLANTA — Channel 2 Action News has learned federal authorities and Atlanta police are investigating why a drug- and bomb-sniffing dog seriously bit a woman waiting in the baggage claim area last Thursday.

The victim spoke exclusively to Channel 2's Tom Regan.

"When the dog swished by me, he reached over grabbed my skin. It hurt, it hurt. More than just the bite, I felt the pull of the skin as the handler was pulling it back his teeth were still there," Susan Dubitsky said.

Dubitsky said she and her husband waiting on the arrival of her sister. She said she did nothing to provoke the animal, which she described as a long-haired German shepherd. She said the dog bit her in the stomach, although a police report said she was bitten in the leg.

"This could happen to anyone. I don't know why they're not muzzled when they are at the airport," Dubitsky said.

Paramedics bandaged the victim's wound at the airport. But when it appeared to get worse the next day, she went to her doctor who gave her antibiotics and told her to consider rabies shots.

The woman said when she attempted to get documented proof that the K-9's rabies shot were up to date, she was told that information could not be provided. On Thursday she learned the dog had shots in February.

"If there was child in this area, it could have really hurt that child," Dubitsky said.

Following the attack, the couple asked the officer handling the dog what prompted the animal to lunge at an innocent bystander.

"He said it could have been her clothes, she was wearing a blue top, sometimes the wind blows, that could have attracted the dog," said John Dubitsky.

Susan Dubitsky said she will drive her sister to the airport Saturday for her return trip home but will not go inside the terminal.

"I don't ever want to see that dog again, because he has an issue with me. I don't think the dog is quarantined, he could very well be there," Dubitsky said.

Both the Transportation Security Administration, which owns the dog, and Atlanta police, which handle the animal, have opened investigation into the incident.

WSBTV