In the third installment of this compelling, though-provoking, and anger-inducing series, Akron Beacon Journal reporter Stephanie Warsmith recounts the story of 51-year-old Michael Palmer who lost his ears, thumbs, an index finger and part of his nose when he was savagely attacked by a friend’s pit bull in December 2022:
Michael Palmer of Green, Ohio shows his injuries he sustained after a friend’s pit bull attacked him. Photo by Lisa Scalfaro, Akron Beacon Journal.
Michael Palmer is a broken man.
He lives in fear, crashes on friends’ couches and feels uncomfortable when strangers stare at him.
This is all new to Palmer, now 51.
In December 2022, Palmer was viciously attacked by a friend’s pit bull at her Green home. Piper, the dog, bit off his ears, thumbs, an index finger and part of his nose.
Palmer can no longer work as a machinist, play guitar or pick up small items.
“I don’t like to go in public,” Palmer said in an interview at his attorneys’ office in Akron. “I go to stores and people stare. Some of them ask. I’d rather them ask than just stare and walk away.”
Palmer, who is living in Lakemore, said he mostly goes out at night when his injuries aren’t as noticeable.
After spending nearly three months in hospitals and going through seven surgeries, Palmer faces half a dozen more operations, along with constant PTSD and nightmares.
Keys or coins rattling together sound like a dog chain to Palmer, sending him into a panic.
“It puts the fear of a dog in my mind,” he said. “I see shadows of dogs all the time. I hear a dog bark and it’s pretty tough.”
Palmer was attacked by his neighbor Wendy Trippett’s pit bull when he went to her house in the early morning hours of Dec. 20, 2022. He said she invited him in and, when he started to open the door, the dog pounced.
The attack lasted nearly 15 minutes. The dog dragged Palmer onto the snow-covered ground and bit off chunks of his flesh and body parts while wagging its tail. The assault ended when a Summit County sheriff’s deputy shot and killed the dog.
Palmer doesn’t recall much after the dog first bit one of his hands until he woke up in the hospital days later.
“I figured I was dead,” he said.
The dog bit off a large area on the side of Palmer’s face, both ears, a thumb and forefinger on his right hand, and a thumb on his left hand. He also had bites to one of his arms and one of his legs. Deputies were able to recover one of Palmer’s thumbs, but doctors couldn’t reattach it. Deputies determined the dog ate the other body parts.
Asked if anything can be learned from his attack, Palmer said: “Any dog can attack. You never know.”
Palmer’s attorneys say attack could have been avoided
Palmer’s attorneys said his attack could − and should – have been prevented. They believe the case illustrates the gaps in Ohio’s dangerous dog laws and their enforcement.
The attorneys are suing Kenneth Grable, who was the landlord of both Palmer and Trippett.
The attorneys claim Grable was aware of the dog’s prior attacks on two other people but did nothing about it, despite requests by his tenants.
Grable, though, argues he isn’t to blame for the attack. He said he understands Palmer tried to enter Trippett’s house uninvited and the dog attacked him.
“I thought it was a pretty good dog,” Grable said. “It was protecting its mom. That’s what dogs do.”
A jury trial was scheduled for this week in Summit County Common Pleas Court but was delayed. The trial will determine if Grable is liable and, if so, how much he owes Palmer in damages. Palmer’s medical bills so far are nearly $650,000, his attorneys say.
Pit bull attacked two other neighbors
Three months before Palmer’s attack, the same pit bull tried to attack the neighbor who would later see Palmer’s mauling.
Christine Witte, who lived next to Trippett on Warren Drive in Green, called 911 on Sept. 4, 2022, to report that her neighbor’s dog tried to attack her in her driveway while she was taking out the trash.
“I came around the corner and she came charging at me,” Witte said in an interview, referring to the pit bull that was female. “She was running around, trying to attack me. I put the trash can between me and her, ran back in the house, slammed the door and called 911.”
Witte, 59, said she wasn’t bit but was frightened.
Trippett wasn’t home at the time. Deputies gave her a warning for control of her dog and told her she “needs to watch the dog better and to fix the fence where it got out of the yard,” according to a report from the Summit County Sheriff’s Office, which provides police services in Green.
Witte said she called Summit County Animal Control but was told there was nothing the agency could do.
Animal control mainly responds to complaints of stray dogs in townships, with cities handling their own dog complaints, said Greta Johnson, the assistant chief of staff and director of communications for the Summit County executive.
Shortly after the September incident, Witte said she saw the pit bull break free from its chain and try to attack a neighbor’s friend. The man climbed a tree to escape. After the man came down, the dog charged at him again and he again scrambled up the tree.
Grable, the landlord, witnessed the near attack, Witte said. He remarked that the dog was very strong.
This incident wasn’t reported to the sheriff’s office.
Witte said both she and another neighbor complained to Grable about the dog. She said he did nothing, though, and allowed the dog to remain.
Witte said she was so scared of the pit bull that she didn’t have a birthday party in her yard out of fear that someone would be attacked. She thinks more should have been done to protect her and her neighbors.
“There were a lot of missteps,” said Witte, who now lives in Akron. “I was trying to get the dog out of there.”
Grable said he told Trippett that she needed to do something about her pit bull.
“I told her, ‘Get rid of it or get insurance for it,'” Grable said. “She never did anything about it. I never forced it.”
Palmer blacks out during attack that lasts nearly 15 minutes
Palmer, who isn’t married and has two kids, moved into a house on Warren Drive at the beginning of the summer of 2021.
Palmer said he went to Trippett’s house about 4 a.m. December 20, 2022, when she asked to borrow $20. He said he was wary about her pit bull but she had always put the 100-pound dog in a back bedroom when he’d visited before.
Here’s what happened next, according to Palmer, witness reports and police body-worn camera footage:
Palmer knocked and Trippett told him to come in.
When Palmer opened the door, the pit bull pounced, dragging him into the yard. Trippett tried to get her dog to stop by hitting it with a broom. This didn’t help.
The dog grabbed Palmer’s pant leg as he tried to spin around and hit it. It grabbed his pant leg again and he hit it on top of its nose.
Palmer fell to the ground and tried to bear hug the dog. It pulled him to the ground several times while he yelled at Trippett to get her “f—— dog!”
Witte heard the commotion and asked Palmer if he needed help. He asked her to call 911.
Witte thought about hitting the dog with a shovel but was afraid it would turn on her. She went inside and called 911, screaming, “Please come!” to the dispatcher.
Palmer tried to climb in a pickup truck in the driveway, but the dog pulled him back down.
Palmer blacked out when the dog bit him on the right hand and was then in and out of consciousness.
“I don’t remember it biting off my finger, biting off my ears,” he said. “It’s not like I looked down and said, ‘My fingers are gone.’”
When Deputy Nick DiSabato arrived, the dog was still mauling Palmer.
“Get the dog off this guy!” Witte shouted.
DiSabato shot the dog and it yelped, then ran around the front of the house. The deputy shot the dog twice more.
“Dog’s down!” DiSabato said into his radio, then added that Palmer needed an ambulance for dog bites all over his body.
Deputies attempted to provide Palmer with first aid until paramedics arrived.
“We’re here, alright?” a deputy said to Palmer, whose body was surrounded by blood in the snow.
The deputy urged Palmer to stay still.
“Please, please, please!” Palmer pleaded. “Oh my God, please!”
Paramedics arrived, put Palmer on a gurney and headed to Summa Akron City Hospital.
Palmer endures surgeries and PTSD after attack
Palmer woke up in the hospital with a deputy standing at the end of his bed. It was Christmas Eve, four days after the attack.
Palmer was in the hospital for 20 days and then transferred to a skilled nursing facility where he stayed for several weeks.
Palmer has so far had seven surgeries and his doctors say he needs at least five or six more. He said he has PTSD and the surgeries have been difficult.
“My mental health things happening slowed everything down,” he said.
Palmer is still missing part of his nose and parts of both his ears, as well as both his thumbs and a finger on his right hand. He said the loss of his thumbs and finger makes it difficult to pick things up. If he drops something at the store, such as coins, he just leaves them.
Palmer has been living with his mother in his childhood home in Lakemore but she has a 180-pound Rottweiler, which is difficult because he’s now frightened of dogs, and particularly large ones. He often sleeps on friends’ couches.
Palmer, who was a machinist, hasn’t been able to work since the attack. His medical expenses have been paid by Ohio Medicaid, a state and federally funded health plan for low-income and disabled Ohioans.
Palmer no longer socializes with many people. When people come to his mother’s house to see him, he sometimes doesn’t answer the door.
“My life’s changed,” he said. “Totally. 100%.”
Palmer thinks a younger person or a much older person likely wouldn’t have survived this attack. He said dogs – and not just pit bulls – should be taken seriously.
“I don’t think anybody should have to go through it,” he said of his attack.
Pit bull owner isn’t charged
Trippett, the pit bull’s owner, gave a different account to sheriff’s deputies of what happened before Palmer’s attack.
She said Palmer came to her house to help paint, but, when he got there, knocked one time, opened the door and walked in.
She said Palmer didn’t give her time to answer the door and shouldn’t have just walked in, according to a sheriff report.
Deputies saw a roller and other paint materials in the front yard, according to the report.
Palmer, though, told deputies he went to Trippett’s house to loan her money. He said she invited him in and the dog attacked when he tried to enter.
Assistant Summit County Prosecutor Felicia Easter declined to file charges because of the conflicting statements. She also noted that the dog hadn’t been deemed vicious by Green, according to the report.
Palmer sues dog owner and landlord
Palmer filed a negligence lawsuit in May 2023 against Trippett and Grable in Summit County Common Pleas Court.
The suit said Palmer has serious, permanent and substantial physical injuries, including physical deformity. He has suffered pain and suffering, health care expenses, loss of income, a diminished capacity to earn income, and emotional distress and anxiety, according to the complaint.
Grable denied all the allegations. He is representing himself because he has been unable to find an attorney, though he has talked to a dozen. He said he feels bad about what happened to Palmer but doesn’t understand why he’s being blamed.
“How can somebody be guilty of something I had nothing to do with?” he asked.
Grable said he has no liability insurance.
“Who’s got the money for that?” he asked.
Grable filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit in August 2023, which was denied. He claimed the pit bull attacked Palmer because Palmer was trespassing. He also claimed the dog “has never shown any signs of being dangerous,” which is contradicted by reports and neighbors’ accounts.
Trespassing is one of the defenses that can be offered by someone being sued in a dog bite case.
Trippett was dismissed from the lawsuit in February 2024 without prejudice, which means the suit against her could potentially be refiled, according to court records.
Dylan Statler, Trippett’s Akron attorney, said this “was a very traumatic thing for her.”
“At this time, she’s not wanting to speak about this matter,” Statler said.
The case against Grable was set for a jury trial on March 10 in Judge Mary Margaret Rowlands’ courtroom, but this was delayed and a new trial date hasn’t yet been set.
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