A woman from Rome is recovering after being bitten by a TSA bomb-sniffing dog at an Atlanta airport.
Sue Dubitsky was standing near the baggage claim area in the south terminal of Hartsfield-Jackson airport on May 2 when she noticed a K-9 dog and its handler standing beside her. She didn't do anything to provoke the animal, but the next thing she knew, the dog lunged and bit her in the lower stomach.
An Atlanta Police report says that Dubitsky was treated by EMS first responders after the incident, but according to the EMS, the bite wasn't so bad. "The skin was broken, there was no bleeding and it just looked like a scratch," the report says. However Dubitsky said that wasn't the case.
According to Dubitsky, the bite left three cuts which were bleeding and she has a bruise as big as her hand on her side. She sent pictures of the injury to 11Alive.
"I don't remember feeling the cut," Dubitsky said. "I didn't really realize that he had pierced the skin. I remember feeling a pulling sensation. It's like someone takes your tissue and pulls it away from you.
Dubitsky wanted to share her story in the hopes that it won't happen to someone else, especially a child.
"Can you imagine that [dog's mouth] around a child's neck?" she said. "And that, the height of my waistline, could easily be a child."
The TSA provides and trains bomb-sniffing dogs for added airport security. The TSA dogs are handled by local law enforcement officer. The handler in this case was an Atlanta Police officer.
The Transportation Security Administration says it's working with Atlanta police to determine why the dog attacked the woman. No other people were injured in the incident.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
