HOMESTEAD, Fla. – Miami-Dade police homicide detectives and Miami-Dade Animal Control officers are investigating the death of a Homestead man who was fatally mauled by dogs.
Manuel Mejia was a live-in caretaker at the dragon fruit farm near Southwest 228th Avenue and and 309th Street. The owner of the farm keeps about a dozen Belgian Malanois-bulldog mixed-breed dogs on the property.
On the evening of April 23, Mejia's girlfriend Pamela Babineau called 911 screaming for help, unable to intervene in the dog attack.
First responders report finding Mejia covered in dog bites and bleeding profusely. A piece of skin was missing from his left tricep area.
Mejia was airlifted to the trauma center at Kendall Regional Medical Center. He died of his injuries four hours later.
Babineau told police three dogs instigated the attack and up to seven others joined in.
Animal control officers cited owner Reynaldo Torres for unregistered and unlicensed dogs and ordered him to keep the dogs contained during the course of the investigation.