Bond set for man charged after deadly dog attack in New Orleans East

Disclaimer: All persons are presumed innocent until proven guilty.

NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — According to court records, a piece of the fence that separated the yards of 36-year-old Chad Bridges and 81-year-old Barbara Stewart, was broken.

New Orleans Police Department Detective Matt Riffle says a piece of plywood was placed over Bridges’ side of the broken fence where his three dogs Sadie, Potato and Rocky got through to get into Stewart’s yard.

The defense argued that the fence was as secure as possible prior to the dogs getting out.

“That particular board is actually bolted at the top, middle and the bottom and it appears that essentially what happened, was that the dog was able to force itself out of a fence that by all appearances had been properly secured,” Defense Attorney John Fuller said.

Court records also show that this was not the first time Bridges’ dogs were involved in an attack. According to Riffle and the prosecutors, Bridge’s 15-year-old neighbor was bitten on the ankle by Sadie.

The defense says there is no proof of this attack.

“There was no actual presentation of evidence as far as police being called, as far as police report, as far as EMS report,” said Defense Attorney Devin Jones.

During the hearing, the prosecution also highlighted several videos from Bridges’ social media account where they claim he taught the dogs how to open gates, climb obstacles and even attack.

Prosecutors say in one particular video Bridges is seen running down a street with multiple dogs not on leashes; but according to the defense, none of these videos incriminate bridges.

“Any suggestion that those videos were images of him teaching dogs to attack humans is 100% disingenuous,” Fuller said.

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