Detroit Lions RB David Montgomery faces civil lawsuit after pit bull attack in Michigan
Detroit Lions running back David Montgomery and his girlfriend are facing a civil lawsuit after their pit bull allegedly attacked another dog in Grosse Pointe Shores this spring.
Mark and Dana Owens filed suit against Montgomery and his longtime girlfriend, Tatum Causey, in Michigan’s Third Judicial Circuit Court last month, according to the court’s online register of actions.
Montgomery declined comment about the lawsuit after practice Monday other than to acknowledge, “It’s getting taken care of” as he walked off the practice field to the Lions’ locker room.
Causey was cited for an ordinance violation for harboring a vicious animal on the morning of June 4, after the 4 ½-year-old pit bull mix the couple co-owns allegedly attacked another dog and bit one of its owners.
According to a complaint filed with the Grosse Pointe Shores Department of Public Safety and obtained by the Free Press, a couple was walking their cockapoo in front of Montgomery’s house when Montgomery’s dog, Lola, approached from the driveway.
Lola bit and held onto the cockapoo’s left front leg and pulled the dog and its owners to the ground.
The cockapoo suffered two leg fractures and required stitches, according to the report, and the man walking the dog said he suffered two puncture wounds on his left hand.
Causey, in her statement to police, wrote that her dog was in the backyard when it escaped its gate, saw another dog and “grabbed the dog’s arm” as its owners picked it up off the ground. Montgomery and Causey had moved into the house days before the attack.
In police bodycam footage obtained by TMZ, a responding officer said the dog has “a decent bite mark” but there was “not a large amount of blood” at the scene. At one point, the dog owner responded, “Her arm is hanging off. I need to get somewhere. She's going to die."
While the complainants’ names are redacted from the report and their images are obscured on body cam footage, a man who identified himself as Mark Owens detailed the incident at a Grosse Pointe Shores city council meeting June 20.
Wearing a sling on his left arm, the man called the incident “absolutely the most horrific experience of my life.” He said he underwent surgery for nerve damage suffered in the attack, his wife will be “permanently scared on her arm” from leash burn, and his dog, who also can be seen in video from the meeting, underwent two surgeries and had its leg amputated.
Neither attorneys for Montgomery and Causey nor the Owenses returned messages seeking comment, and the Owenses did not immediately return a voice message.
A status conference for the civil lawsuit is scheduled for Oct. 26, days before the Lions are scheduled to host the Las Vegas Raiders in Monday Night Football from Ford Field.
Montgomery, who signed a three-year, $18 million deal with the Lions in March, is set to split backfield duties with rookie first-round pick Jahmyr Gibbs this fall. He ran for 3,609 yards the past four seasons with the Chicago Bears.
Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Lions RB David Montgomery faces lawsuit after pit bull attack
