California K-9 Attacks Sheriff's Estranged Wife

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. -- A BPD K-9 has attacked the estranged wife of the Kern County Sheriff.

Victoria Youngblood was attacked by the dog as she slept in her bed, and now she could lose her ear.

The incident happened on Easter. Sixty-year-old Victoria Youngblood was asleep when suddenly she felt something clamp down on her head

Police had gone to Victoria Youngblood’s home looking for drugs. Her son Aaron Youngblood had been arrested on drug charges and police had a search warrant.

"She suffers from rheumatoid arthritis and sleep disorders so she had gone to bed early," said Youngblood’s attorney Daniel Rodriguez.

Victoria is legally separated from Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood and Aaron is their son. Rodriguez says police showed up about 8 p.m. and Victoria was already asleep.

“She can feel this crunching of bones and she opens her eyes, and it’s a dog on top of her,” Rodriguez said.

Reports show the K-9 had been let off the leash inside the house, but we don’t know if this is proper procedure because police won’t comment on the case while there's still a chance a lawsuit could be filed. Rodriguez says the dog bit down twice, nearly severing Youngblood’s right ear.

"It’s hanging on by a flap of skin and the doctors aren’t sure if they can salvage it,” Rodriguez said.

An emergency room report from Kern Medical Center given to us by Rodriguez says doctors sewed the ear back on, but they aren’t sure it’s going to take. There is also concern Youngblood could lose her hearing in that ear. She also suffered a skull fracture. Youngblood spent four days in the hospital.

"The fortunate thing is that she must have been sleeping almost face down because had she been sleeping face up the laceration would've been across her neck and we know the jugular vein is there and things could have been a lot worse,” Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez says Aaron Youngblood hasn’t lived at the home for more than a month and he wants to know why police were searching there. He says this is the third time a BPD K-9 has attacked an innocent person.

"I don’t know what it’s going to take to get BPD to go back and take a good look at the kinds of dogs that they are getting the kind of training and control of these dogs that they are doing," Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez says Youngblood is afraid to return to her home because of the attack.