SC sheriff’s deputy attacked by pit bull while serving animal abuse warrant
A Richland County Sheriff’s Deputy assisting on an animal cruelty call was attacked by a pit bull after it broke the chain tethering it to a tree and lunged at her.
Deputy Sarah Merriman was bitten multiple times on the right arm and was transported to a hospital. Her injuries come less than two weeks after two joggers, in separate incidents, were nearly killed by a pair of pit bulls in Harbison State Forest in Richland County.
The unrelated attack on Merriman took place Thursday while the deputy was accompanying Richland County Animal Control officers to serve a warrant for animal cruelty in the 1100 block of Heins Road, near Blythewood. As Merriman walked up the pathway to the home, a large black and white pit bull chained to a tree broke free and charged at Merriman and bit the deputy’s arm.
A former K9 officer, Merriman used her training to “fight off the dog,” said Deputy Jay Weaver, a sheriff’s department spokesman. Merriman did not discharge her weapon in the attack and the dog is now in the custody of animal control officers, Weaver said.
Merriman was taken the hospital with multiple wounds on her arm from the dog bite.
“What happened to Deputy Merriman is an example of just how dangerous the job can be,” said Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott. “There’s not many many deputies in the sheriff’s department that have not been bit by a dog. Including me.”
The dog’s owner, Courtney Cain, 33, was arrested on her original charge of animal cruelty. Cain has a history of animal cruelty, deputies said. In 2023, Cain was found guilty on seven counts of not providing food and/or water to an animal and was found civilly liable in a case brought by Richland County Animal Cares. In July, she was charged with three counts of ill treatment of torture/ill treatment of animals.
“Dogs are not born to be mean and vicious,” Lott said. “It’s people that make them like that.”
Merriman was previously injured in the line of duty in 2022 when a fleeing suspect hit her with his car, pinning her against a patrol vehicle.
Heavily muscled with large jaws and a strong bite instinct, pit bulls were historically bred to be fighting dogs and are still used in illegal dog fighting that remains a prominent underground practice in South Carolina.
Not all pit bulls are dangerous, Lott said, noting that he has friends and deputies who own pit bulls. But the common trait of dogs that attack people “are the ones that people abuse or train to attack and fight.”
Pit bulls loose in State Forest
The attack on Merriman comes two weeks after after authorities shut down Harbison State Forest to hunt for two pit bull-type dogs that attacked runners on two separate occasions.
Thursday’s incident was not connected to the attacks in Harbison, Weaver said, which took place on the other side of the county.
The two aggressive, well muscled dogs encircled and nearly killed a 19-year-old runner preparing for the Army and a prominent marathon-running federal prosecutor. Both men only survived following the timely arrival of other people who were able to chase the dogs off.
One of the dogs was shot and killed by a farmer before midnight Monday. The dog was attacking his goats, the farmer said.
One of the dogs remains at large. Harbison State Forest will remain closed until further notice.