Dog not involved in man’s death

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The coroner says a dog attack is not the cause of a man’s death in Hamilton, but it’s still not known why the man died.

Several neighbours reported seeing the dog attack, and some tried to intervene. “The one guy come up with the baseball bat, took a swing, hit him right in the head. The dog just kind of ignored it, shook it off, kept going after the victim” says one resident. “I ran back here, grabbed a bat. When I got back out the dog was still ripping him apart and the two guys were trying to get him off.” He says the dog was hit with the bat at least three times, but didn’t attack anyone else. “He was focussed on the guy on the ground, and that was it.”

Hamilton Police say, after a preliminary coroner’s investigation that “the dog attack was not the cause of death in this investigation at this point.”

The coroner is still waiting for toxicology and other test results to determine why the man died. He says it’s possible the dog was just responding to the man’s collapse or death. The dog is still in quarantine at Hamilton animal services. Staff there are waiting for direction from police before they do anything else, but police say this is now a coroner’s case, not a crime.