Pamela Jane Rock was the youngest of the 14 Rock children. She was born and raised in Plantation, Florida. She showed her commitment to helping others from an early age.
After graduating from the University of Florida, she served in the Alachua County Women, Infants & Children (WIC) program. She also served for three years in Guatemala as a Peace Corps volunteer and later worked on an Indian reservation teaching nutrition, before returning to the WIC program in North Carolina and Georgia. She became an ardent advocate on Capitol Hill for the needs of women and children caught in the grip of poverty.
Pamela joined the U.S. Postal Service as a letter carrier in January of 2022. Seven months later, on August 21, 2022, she was delivering packages in Interlachen, Florida when she had car trouble.
She called for help and was delivering mail on foot when she was attacked by a pack of five large and vicious pit bull dogs. Hearing her horrific screams, the dog owner and a neighbor tried to help, but could not separate her from the pack.
A local EMT responded quickly. Pam's heart stopped, but she was successfully resuscitated. She was airlifted to the University of Florida Shands Trauma Unit.
A special team of doctors and nurses at Shands worked to keep her alive despite savage wounds. Her injuries required the amputation of her right leg; the amputation of her right arm; the loss of her left ear, and multiple deep bites all over her body.
Despite the heroic efforts of the Shands staff, she died on August 22, 2022. A part of us died, too.
Pam's death was not just "bad luck" or a case of "being in the wrong place at the wrong time." Her death was completely preventable. Had any of these four simple steps been taken, she would be alive today:
1. Putnam County Sheriff's Department failed to notify Animal Control or follow up on a seriously injured victim—200 stitches—attacked six months before Pam's death by the same dogs that killed her.
2. The dogs' owner had a duty to control his animals. When he realized he could not control them, his duty was to have them euthanized after the documented attack mentioned above.
3. Putnam County Animal Control failed on multiple occasions to enforce the county's Dangerous Dog ordinance. The USPS has a warning system available to warn and protect letter carriers but, despite the first vicious attack, the animals were never classified as dangerous, so the warnings were never activated.
4. Putnam County Animal Shelter is a "no-kill" facility. Animal Control is therefore reluctant to take in dangerous dogs. Their facility was "too full" for more than one year. So the dogs that killed our sister, already demonstrated to be dangerous, were knowingly allowed to roam free.
Her death was investigated by the Putnam County Sheriff and the State Attorney's Office. These investigations revealed a history of violence involving the same dogs and owner in the months leading up to Pam's death.
They confirmed the first attack listed above. Neighbors had repeatedly called the Animal Control office for fear of the animals, and parents were unable to allow their children to walk to the bus stop alone. The dogs were a clear and present danger and had been reported to county officials multiple times, but nothing was done to address the problem.
The only response to the death of our sister? The five attacking dogs were finally euthanized. That's it.
Although the Sheriff's Detective on the scene recommended the owner be charged as a "Dangerous Dog Owner with Reckless Disregard for Keeping Animals Contained," it was denied by the State Attorney.
A final gut-punch to our family: The dog owner walked away with no charges whatsoever. No one was held accountable.
Putnam County officials later explained to us how "bureaucratic silos" and "unfortunate missteps" prevented county officials from enforcing a Dangerous Dog ordinance already in place.
Our sister Pam died as much from a failure of leadership as from the wounds she suffered.
As if to underline our point, an 86-year-old female U.S. Army veteran was savagely attacked in her own front yard by her neighbor's two dogs on Friday, May 26, 2023. She also lives in Putnam County. She barely survived her attack—less than a year from Pam's death—with loss of her leg, ear, multiple bites, and throat injury. She is in a rehabilitation hospital now.
To address these horrible injuries and deaths, our family is working to establish a new Florida statute requiring the statewide registration and tracking of these Dangerous Dogs starting at their first attack. This statute would be enforced by Florida state, rather than local, officials.
Future dog attacks must be reduced or eliminated. Pam deserves nothing less.
Tom Rock is the brother of Pamela Jane Rock, an on-duty USPS letter carrier who was attacked by 5 pit bulls in August 2022 and did not survive.
All views expressed in this article are the author's own.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Tom Rock is the brother of Pamela Jane Rock, an on-duty USPS letter carrier who did not survive her attack ... Read more
