Detective Cited After Dog Attack In Greenfield Hospitalizes Woman

GREENFIELD, WI — A woman was hospitalized on Thursday when a Waukesha County detective's dog broke out of its cage and attacked her inside his Greenfield home, according to a Greenfield police report.

The dog's owner, 33-year-old Joseph Mensah, was mailed a citation for harboring a vicious animal and a citation for animal licensing after the encounter, a police report said. Mensah was hired by the Waukesha County Sheriff's Office in 2021 where he remains as a detective, several media reports noted. The dog, a 9-month-old unneutered Pitt Bull/Bully mix called "Bulldozer" was given to Milwaukee Area Domestic Animal and euthanized, a police report noted.

Police were called out to the 7000 block of West Chapman Avenue around 10 a.m. that day where they found a 26-year-old woman from Burlington with bite marks, lacerations and blood all over her, a police report said. Officers later found out she was part of a home restoration company contracted by Mensah, police said.

The woman who was attacked told police she had just come up from the basement where she was working but when she got to the top, the dog was out of its kennel, police said. She told police she "did not panic" and talked to the dog as she moved very slowly, but then the dog charged her, latched onto her, and bit her several times, according to police.

The woman told police she thought she was going to die, a police report said. Every time she tried to stand and get away, the dog bit her in another spot and latched on, police said. The woman finally made it to the front door and pulled the dog outside, according to a police report.

Before the attack, one of the woman's coworkers ran out of the house because the dog escaped, but they did not realize their coworker was still inside downstairs, the police report said. They then heard what one coworker described as "someone being killed" but they were afraid to go inside because of the dog, police said. A coworker armed with a metal pole started hitting it against a mailbox as other coworkers screamed and tried to get the dog to stop attacking, a police report said.

The woman told police the dog let go soon after she got outside, adding that the dog may have let go then because it no longer saw her as a "threat," the police report said.

After the dog let go, the workers sealed themselves in the back of their work truck until police arrived, the police report said.

The woman later told police inside a hospital trauma room that she felt Mensah was a good and responsible dog owner and she did not want him in trouble for what happened, the police report noted. The woman's injuries included scrapes on her arms, chest, neck and forehead, plus "an extremely deep penetrating injury" to her arm, plus puncture marks and cuts in several areas, police said. Medical personnel said she was bitten over 10 times, according to police.

There were three dogs in total inside the house, according to a police report. One of the woman's coworkers told police they were all secured in kennels on the main level of the residence. Before the attack, Mensah had told the woman the dog in question was "iffy" with some people, police said.

Mensah told police he was not home during the incident, and that all the dogs were in wire crates but the dog in question must have broken loose, the police report said. The dog was later found outside tainted red, presumably from blood, in a fenced-in backyard, police said.

An optional court date for the municipal citations was scheduled for April, police said.