Rottweiler Wimbledon Common Incident - Appeal for witnesses Post Reply

[NataschaCrundwell]

This afternoon, sometime between 13.20 and 13.35 my 13 year old son and his friend were in Wimbledon Common at 7 Post Pond (near Wimbledon Park Side / Inner Park Road) playing,  when a dog owner set his Rottweiler on them.  My son stood still, petrified, while his friend ran into Park Side to avoid being attacked by the beast. Luckily there weren't too many cars racing down the road or my friend's son could have had a nasty accident. At no point did the owner call his dog back or make any attempt to stop it. Only when the dog was going to run into the road after my son's friend did the owner call the dog. From the boys' description the dog owner is tall, like 6 foot, average build and bald.

Both boys are in shock and are grateful to the two men in the silver BMW who stopped to offer their assistance.

Did anyone happen to be passing by at the time and see anything?  Is anyone aware of possible CCTV cameras along Park Side - and if so who would we need to contact to try and trace the bully?  I am not quite sure how to proceed on this matter and if any effort on our part will actually lead to anything!  Any advice and contact numbers would be greatly appreciated.

[chorister]

Do you really mean the owner "set his Rottweiler on them" or do you mean that an out of control Rottweiler chased them until the owner called it back?  I suspect there is quite a big difference.

[NataschaCrundwell]

According to the boys the owner had the dog on the leash then let it loose when he saw them. At no point did the owner call the dog back as the boy ran for his life into the road with oncoming traffic. Only when the dog was going to run into the road did the owner call it back.

Why we are led to believe the owner did this deliberately is his lack of even trying to get his dog back or even to apologise to the boys or to see if they were ok.

[chorister]

In that case to be honest I think you need to go to the police.  If they were out of your sight (as you seem to imply) then it is I suppose possible that your sons did something which irritated either the owner or the man, but nothing - absolutely nothing - excuses that response.  He may well be a danger to others and a future incident may end in a tragedy.

[NataschaCrundwell]

The boys are the most gentle of guys you could possibly meet. My son absolutely adores dogs but this unprovoked incident has left him stunned.

I am busy filing a police report and have also written to the Wimbledon Common Park Rangers.

[NoodleFan]

The met police at good at coming back if you log a report on their site. They may not actually do anything but hopefully they’ll get back to you with some advice and record his details for the future. I doubt this is a lone incident if your boys did nothing to provoke the dog. Poor kids

[Supermumnot]

I am so sorry for your children’s experience and I’m incredibly disappointed by the lack of empathy shown here. You’ve shared your experience and yet it is suggested that your children could have provoked the dogs.

Is it so hard to believe that there are irresponsible dog owners in this country? Or that an individual could be wicked enough to set a dog on children? It is very naive. Those young boys are now traumatised and could have been hit by a car, as a mother myself it’s very hard to hear. I hope that the boys are ok and that the wardens find the individual concerned.

[atbattersea]

I find it difficult to contemplate that a 13 year old could outrun a rottweiler, but that's a matter of nuance in this case.

You should report this to the police. You should also go to the site and check for any cctv cameras yourself. This would include checking sites where the man and his dog potentially entered or left the area (perhaps even car parks).

If any cameras are controlled by a public authority you can make a freedom of information request for anything recorded. If this is refused on the basis that it would identify others, then ask again, pointing out that it is the authority's responsiblity to provide the information, and protect the identity of others (ie they have to provide what is requested, and blur out faces if necessary).

If you can get cctv material then the police will become more interested (even if id obscured), because they can get the unobscured video, and perhaps identify the person. They are overwhealmed and don't have enough resources to be chasing relatively minor crimes where the culprits are unidentified and there is no other evidence.