Dog pack kills public health worker investigating earlier attack, Alabama cops say

A pack of dogs killed an Alabama public health worker who was investigating a previous attack, officials said.

Jacqueline Summer Beard, an employee with the Alabama Department of Public Health, was following up with the dogs’ owner on Friday, April 29, just outside Red Bay after an incident earlier in the week in which the dogs attacked a woman, according to a Facebook post from the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office.

Investigators believe Beard was trying to contact the owner when the dogs attacked her, the sheriff’s office said.

Deputies were called to the area about a suspicious vehicle, according to the sheriff’s office. When they arrived, they found Beard, and she was pronounced dead at the scene.

While deputies were on the scene, the dogs started attacking residents in the area, including one person who suffered minor injuries, the sheriff’s office said. Some of the dogs were immediately euthanized.

Brandy Dowdy, who WAFF reports is the owner of the dogs, was arrested and is accused of manslaughter and “dangerous dog law,” the sheriff’s office said.

Beard’s death is under investigation.

The Alabama Department of Public Health told AL.com that Beard had worked for the agency for about 17 years.

“The Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH) extends our deepest sympathy to the family, friends, and colleagues of Summer Beard, after her tragic passing,” Ryan Easterling, a department spokesperson, said in a statement to the outlet. “Summer was known to her coworkers as an exceptional person. She was a tremendous team worker and was loved by those who knew her.”

Red Bay is near the Mississippi state line, about 120 miles northwest of Birmingham.

After woman was killed by pack of dogs, Oklahoma cops found her dog ‘standing guard’

7-year-old girl dies after a dog attacks her in Virginia, police say

Two dogs ‘catastrophically’ maul college student hired to walk them, Texas lawsuit says

7-month-old dies in dog attack, Georgia cops say. Now great-grandmother is charged