$7.5 million demand served on city of SV over fatal pit bull mauling of elderly woman

Herald/Review
By Terri Jo Neff terrijo.neff@myheraldreview.com
December 26, 2023

SIERRA VISTA — The husband and adult children of a Sierra Vista woman mauled to death by at least one pit bull as she took an evening stroll in June have served a $7.5 million notice of claim on city officials stemming in part from how a dog attack against another resident was handled by the city’s Animal Control unit in February.

Helene Jackson, 84, and her mini poodle, Lily, were savagely killed June 23 when one or two American Staffordshire Terriers, commonly known as pit bulls, belonging to Shimira Marie Sanches and Ashlee Sanches jumped a residential block wall.

The Sancheses have been indicted on felony charges including manslaughter related to the attack. They will be back in Cochise County Superior Court on Feb. 16 unless their cases are resolved before then through a plea agreement.

While the criminal prosecutions could be resolved soon, the likelihood that civil litigation will be initiated took a step forward earlier this month with the filing of the $7.5 million notice of claim by Jackson’s survivors.

A notice of claim is required under Arizona law to be served upon a public body, public official, or public employee within 180 days of an incident to give the public entity an opportunity to settle a claim without litigation. The claimants, who are demanding $2.5 million, are Helene Jackson’s husband, Michael, as well as her son and daughter.

The notice of claim, which was served on city officials Dec. 19, describes how Helene Jackson gathered up her very small dog, Lily, in her arms in an unsuccessful effort to protect Lily from the attack by Thor, one of the pit bulls.

“Thor was able to wrest Lily from Helene’s arms,” the claim states. “Thor killed Lily, and then attacked, mauled, and killed Helene.”

Whether a second pit bull, named Panda, belonging to the Sancheses also attacked is not confirmed.

But the thrust of the notice of claim against the city stems from the fact Panda and Thor escaped their yard in February and attacked another resident and his dog in what is described as a similar unprovoked act of aggression and violence.

According to the notice of claim, the victim of that Feb. 11 attack was injured but avoided more serious injuries through “the timely assistance of a nearby resident, who used a shovel to break the hold of Thor and Panda on their victims and to stop the attack.”

Public records show Shimira Sanches arranged the same day to take both dogs to the city’s Nancy J. Brua Animal Care Center for a “bite quarantine” as governed by City Animal Control Ordinance 90.20. The dogs were quarantined for 10 days during which staff checked for any signs of rabies. They were released without being current on their rabies shots.

However, the notice of claim contends an even bigger act of negligence occurred when the staff failed to impound the dogs for being dangerous or vicious as addressed by Ordinance 90.05(B) even though city staff had knowledge Thor and Panda were “vicious animals” as defined in the city’s Animal Control Ordinance 90.01 and as an “aggressive dog” as defined in Arizona Revised Statute 11-1014.0l(D)(l).

“The City had the ability and authority to ensure that the impounded dogs would not harm anyone else, but nonetheless returned them to their owner(s) without taking meaningful action,” the notice of claim states, noting the dogs would have been euthanized or other “appropriate safeguards” would have put in place prior to their release if animal control staff followed Ordinance 90.05(B).

Such safeguards, according to the notice of claim, could have included a requirement that the Sancheses build a more secure wall or fence to keep the dogs “from escaping again and attacking another unsuspecting victim” or require the dogs be restrained by a leash or chain when outside.

Just four months later, Thor and possibly Panda escaped from the yard again as Jackson walked by with her small dog.

“At no time did Helene provoke either Thor or Panda, or do anything to invite the canine attack upon her and Lily by Thor and/or Panda,” the notice of claim states. “She was not at fault in any degree or to any extent whatsoever. At all relevant times, Helene and Lily were in a place they had the legal right to be.”

The notice of claim names the city and several officials, including City Manager Charles Potucek, Mayor Clea McCaa, and each council member. Also named in the notice are the current and former police chiefs as well as two employees of the city’s animal control department.

The dogs’ previous act of aggression, of which Shimira Marie Sanches and Ashlee Sanches were aware, is expected to be an issue during plea negotiations or at trial. There is also expected to be arguments by the women’s defense attorneys that the actions by city staffers after the February attack in some respect mitigates the women’s criminal culpability.

As previously reported by the Herald/Review, Sam Sanches Jr. lived with the women and was home June 23 with a young boy and the two pit bulls. He wound up having his left arm amputated and required more than 100 stitches along with skin grafts on his extremities from being brutally attacked as he tried to prevent one of the dogs from jumping a 5-foot fence as Jackson walked by.

The other dog also joined in the attack on Sam Sanches, 53, who is the uncle of Shimira Sanches.

The dogs were fatally shot on scene by officers with the Sierra Vista Police Department.