Jersey City man charged with letting 6 pit bulls attack 3 police officers and resisting arrest is being held on $10,000 bail
Published: Wednesday, February 15, 2012, 3:02 AM
Charles Hack/The Jersey Journal
The Jersey City man who cops say was responsible for six pit bulls being unleashed and fighting in the street Sunday morning appeared in court yesterday on charges he allowed the dogs to attack three officers.
Bail for Gary Burgess Jr., 29, of Wegman Parkway, was set at $10,000 bond or $1,000 cash during the hearing before Judge Richard T. Nieto in Central Judicial Processing court in Jersey City.
Burgess is charged with three counts of third-degree aggravated assault on a police officer and resisting arrest.
Cops shot and killed four of the dogs during the incident that occurred around 5 a.m. on Old Bergen Road near Neptune Avenue.
Assistant Prosecutor Guy Gregory said yesterday that police reports indicate that the aggravated assault charges relate to the fact that the dogs were unleashed and Burgess allowed them to attack three officers. None of the officers were injured, officials said.
City spokesman woman Jennifer Morrill said in a statement that two surviving young dogs were treated by a veterinarian for neglect and malnutrition and are now at the Liberty Humane Society animal shelter pending a court hearing.
Shareeda Nelson, the mother of Burgess’ children, told The Jersey Journal yesterday that she owned one of the dogs that police killed, 1-year-old Geeda, and Burgess owned another, 2-year-old Roxy.
She said the couple’s 6-year-old boy and 7-year old girl are “distraught” over the death of the dogs.
“I know the dogs,” Nelson said. “The dogs were not vicious and were not mistreated. They are family dogs. The dogs interact with the kids.”
Several residents said Monday they heard two sets of shots, seven to nine shots in all.
