Sheriff: Dispatchers mishandled call after SC woman attacked, killed by two dogs

GREENVILLE, S.C. — Authorities in South Carolina said 911 dispatchers mishandled a call when a woman was attacked and killed after wrestling with her dogs.

Officials said the 52-year-old woman in South Carolina was killed after she was wrestling with her dogs in her front yard and they started to attack her.

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Greenville County Sheriff's spokesman Lt. Ryan Flood said a neighbor saw the attack last month and called 911. Another neighbor was able to get the woman away from the dogs, but she had suffered severe injuries.

The Greenville County Coroner's Office said Nancy Cherryl Burgess-Dismuke died at the hospital about nine hours after she was attacked.

Flood said in a statement the dogs appear to be a boxer mix and were secured by animal control.

The coroner's office says Burgess-Dismuke had several bites to her upper body and lost a large amount of blood.

The Greenville County Sheriff's Office said dispatchers violated communications policy by transferring the caller to animal control rather than EMS.

Officials said two dispatchers received three-day suspensions.

Associated Press