New Canaan Police recently investigated an 18-year-old Stamford woman’s claim that her employer’s dog bit her in the leg—only to discover following multiple interviews that the complainant had been fired from her job and could produce no corroborating evidence of an attack.
The teen couldn’t recall the exact date of the Jelliff Mill Road incident when she contacted the New Canaan Police Department’s Animal Control section late last month, according to an incident report obtained by New Canaanite following a Freedom of Information Act request.
Yet in speaking to the woman on June 19, Officer Allyson Halm said in the report, she “related that as she was walking into a gated area toward her office door, at the dog owner’s residence, five dogs came towards her and as she attempted to enter the office door one dog described as a poodle named ‘Jake’ bit her on the back of her left calf.”
The teen said she’d been alone at the time and no one was in the office, but that she texted her co-worker about it straightaway, according to the report.
The complainant further said that she would forward a photo of her injury to Halm as well as the text message she’d sent to the co-worker, to establish the date of the incident.
Halm then contacted the dog’s owner to confirm that ‘Jake’ was up-to-date on his rabies shots (he was) and relayed what the teen had said, according to the incident report.
The boss “indicated that [the girl] was lying and that she fired [her],” it said.
It isn’t clear what type of business or office is operating at the home on Jelliff Mll Road. According to records on file with the Connecticut Secretary of the State, a company at the same address called ‘Teleteria’ helps clients set up their own adult or casino websites.
Halm told the dog’s owner that she had no reason to believe the bite had been fabricated—and the woman replied that the co-worker was in fact on the premises at the time of the alleged incident.
Halm issued an “on-property quarantine” for the dog, she said, and was told that Jake never leaves the property anyway.
Two days later, Halm contacted the co-worker who “indicated she was unaware of the incident and that this was the first she had heard of it.”
Asked whether she had received a text message from the teen on the day of the alleged dog attack, the co-worker “indicated she did not recall receiving a text message” and “further related that the dogs don’t have access to the office area.”
Halm then told Jake’s owner that the quarantine was over and completed the state’s dog bite report.
Are dogs guilty until proven innocent?
Yes dogs, chickens and bees.