Dog owner in fatal mauling freed on bond

UPDATE @ 5:30 p.m. (Aug. 6): Kimiko Hardy, accused of involuntary manslaughter and other felonies in the fatal dog mauling of her stepgrandson, is free on her own recognizance, according to online Montgomery County Common Pleas Court records.

FIRST REPORT (July 22)

A dog owner indicted on six felony charges today, one year after the fatal mauling of her 7-month-old stepgrandson, now faces 11 years in prison.

Kimiko Hardy, 37, of Dayton, was aware her American Staffordshire terrier was dangerous when it attacked and killed Jonathan Quarles Jr. on July 20, 2014, while the child from Indianapolis was visiting her home in the 2200 block of Riverside Drive, Montgomery County Prosecutor Mat Heck Jr. announced in a news release.

Hardy’s dog, Bussa, had previously charged a letter carrier in April 2014, which led the worker to miss work for two weeks and the U.S. Postal Service to refuse to deliver mail to the home for six months, according to the prosecutor’s office.

Also, just weeks before the fatal attack, Bussa bit and attacked another dog in June 2014. Following the second incident, Hardy attended required classes at the Montgomery County Animal Resource Center on responsible dog ownership, according to the prosecutor’s office.

“This defendant was well aware that her dog was a dangerous, even vicious animal, yet she failed to properly control the animal and it killed a completely helpless infant,” Heck said in a prepared statement.

Jonathan Jr. was the infant son of Kashyra Hardy and Jonathan Quarles Sr. He was buried July 30, 2014, in Dayton. He died from multiple blunt force injuries, the Montgomery County Coroner’s Office reported last year.

After the boy’s death, Hardy’s dog was seized by ARC and euthanized in September 2014.

Hardy, who now resides in Jefferson Twp., was indicted by a county grand jury on four counts of involuntary manslaughter, one count of endangering children and one count of failure to confine or restrain vicious dog, according to the prosecutor’s office.

In another mauling, a county grand jury declined to indict owners in the death of 57-year-old Klonda Richey, who was attacked on Feb. 7, 2014, outside her Bruce Avenue home by her neighbors’ two mixed-breed mastiffs. Instead, Andrew Nason and Julie Custer were charged with two misdemeanors by the city of Dayton on two counts of failure to control dogs.

The difference between the deaths of Jonathan Jr. and Richey is that there were witnesses and the dog had a history of aggressiveness that was documented, said Greg Flannagan, spokesman for the county prosecutor’s office.

Although Richey had sought help from ARC, police and courts for protection from the dogs and her neighbors, the dogs did not have a designation as nuisance, dangerous or vicious because they had no history of biting someone or killing another dog, the county previously said.

A court summons has been issued for Hardy, who is scheduled to be arraigned Aug. 6. Flannagan said she faces a maximum penalty of 11 years in prison.