By Alan Burke
PEABODY — Cassandra Osgood is angrily denouncing a strategy of blaming the victim — herself — for a vicious attack by a pit bull.
Osgood, of Danvers, singled out especially the accusation by the dog's owner, Brian Stevens, and lawyer Jeremy Cohen that drug use was involved in the incident at a Peabody mobile home. She denies using drugs or alcohol prior to the attack.
Three women and a police officer were injured in the incident, with Osgood suffering the worst, sustaining up to 50 wounds and extensive scarring. A hearing was held Tuesday before Peabody police Capt. Joseph Berardino and Animal Control Officer Lilian Pinto to consider the dog's fate. A decision is expected within 72 hours of the hearing.
"There is no doubt that the dog did this, but he was agitated into doing it," Cohen told the hearing in an effort to save the animal. Rough play between Osgood and another woman set the dog off, he suggested.
Osgood, who says her wounds are not healing well, contrasts this strategy of blaming her for the attack with her own initial reaction to the ordeal. At first, she expressed sympathy for the dog and accepted an apology from Stevens.
"Now he's accusing me of illegal drug use — No! (The dog) got me everywhere but my face. Now something's wrong with my right arm. People need to see this. I'm feeling this dog needs to be put to sleep."
She also denies the version of events presented by Stevens' girlfriend, Jamie Brickman, who said she yelled at the girls to stop wrestling prior to the attack.
"This was just a bullet that missed me," Osgood says. "Thank God he didn't get my throat. Or my face. I'm scarred for life." She adds that she now needs plastic surgery and doesn't believe that she should have to pay for it.
Cohen has acknowledged that he expects an order to euthanize the animal, but that can be appealed to the District Court within 30 days.
