Seattle camp counselor allegedly attacked by dog owner

SEATTLE — A summer camp counselor is recovering after he was allegedly attacked by a dog owner last Friday afternoon in West Seattle.

“We were out here on the playground playing for a little while and I kind of made a throwaway comment, ‘ohh there’s a dog off leash’ – because it feels like there’s always dogs off leash at this park,” said Ci Hossner, a camp counselor with Hazelwood Preschool.

Hossner says she and a co-worker were watching over nearly a dozen kids in a fenced area when a dog owner came down the nearby trail at Fauntleroy Park with his big husky.

“The kids started to reach their hands out to pet the dog and I think the dog just kind of got overly excited and came closer to the gate and I think just pushed the gate open, and in the process, the dog came running in and my co-worker intercepted the guy and said ‘hey, please keep your dog on a leash,’” said Hossner.

Hossner said it wasn’t the dog, but the owner who went on the attack, pushing her 21-year-old co-worker with so much force, he went flying backward, slamming his head against a slide.

“When he was coming around to get the dog from me, he made comments about how we should keep our gate closed and that we are a bunch of punks,” said Hossner.

“It was just so shocking that he would do that in front of kids and the kids were definitely shaken up by it and it was really quite scary,” she said.

As counselors focused on calming down the children, the man continued to the parking lot with his dog – then was caught on security cameras driving off in a silver Honda minivan without any plates.

“We weren’t able to see his face, unfortunately, on camera. We’re going to be putting up new cameras into the playground after this incident,” said Board President Danielle Robbins.

No children were hurt, and the school filed a police report.

Hossner says the kids are still talking about what happened.

“It still very feels very raw to them, but it also feels very raw for I think a lot of our staff too,” said Hossner.

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