Man pleads innocent to domestic-violence charge

A woman was treated twice by ambulance workers for bites from the family dog.

STAFF report

WARREN — A Freeman Street Northwest man pleaded innocent to a misdemeanor charge of domestic violence Tuesday after he allegedly told the family dog to attack his live-in girlfriend twice.

The 26-year-old woman was treated twice Monday by ambulance personnel for dog bites on her legs, police said. When contacted Tuesday by the city’s animal control officer, John Onatz, the woman said she didn’t want to file any dog-related charges against her boyfriend, and the woman was keeping the dog in her home with her two children without any problems, Onatz said.

Apparently the dog doesn’t bother the woman except when the man orders it to attack, Onatz said.

Randen Diedrich, 26, of 349 Freeman Street N.W., is scheduled to return to Warren Muncipal Court at 2:15 p.m. July 16 on the domestic-violence charge. He was released Tuesday after posting $1,500 bond.

The woman said she and Diedrich got into an altercation at their home about 9:30 p.m., at which time Diedrich slapped her in the face and told the dog to attack her, resulting in her being bitten on the leg. She suffered several deep lacerations to her upper thigh, police said.

The woman called police, but Diedrich fled with the dog.

Diedrich returned at about 10:30 p.m., grabbed the woman by the hair and threw her out of the house, Warren police said. Diedrich then told the dog, a Rotweiler/pit bull mix, to attack her again, causing the dog to “nip” at her buttock area, police said.

This time Diedrich stayed in the house, and when police arrived, they took him to jail.

Onatz said the woman agreed to keep the dog quarantined in the house for 10 days.

At about 2:30 p.m. the previous afternoon, police were called to a home on Oregon Avenue Northwest, where a 25-year-old man reported that he was bitten on the hand by his neighbor’s dog, which had strayed into the victim’s yard and attacked his dog.

The victim said the veterinarian’s bill for his dog’s injuries is about $600. The victim did not seek medical attention for the puncture to his hand, police said.