The shelter said the pit bull was sweet. He mauled his new owner

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In the video, a gray pit bull named Valerio stood on a woman’s lap, furiously wagging his tail as he accepted her caresses.“I’m the best boy ever! I love to play.I love snuggling and I’ll let you put silly costumes on me,” said the caption on the Feb.

14, 2022 Instagram post.Kristin Wright responded: “I work so it’s a little crazy.Can valeria just get in the back seat of my car.”That August, two days after Wright adopted 4-year-old Valerio from the city animal shelter in South Los Angeles, he attacked her, breaking her right arm and peeling the skin off her left arm.

Only later did Wright discover that Valerio was surrendered to the shelter after biting his previous owner’s elderly mother in the face.Wright and her husband sued the city, reaching a $3.25-million settlement in November.Wright, 75, said she never would have adopted Valerio had she known of his violent history.

After multiple surgeries, she still has nerve damage and pain in her fingers and hands, making it difficult for her to do her work as an accountant.“They made a choice [to adopt Valerio out], and now I have to live my life like this,” she said.Jenna Edzant, one of Wright’s lawyers who has sued the city three times for similar dog attacks, said in a statement, “What happened to Ms.

Wright and her husband was completely preventable if the City had simply followed its own policies and procedures that are designed to keep members of the public safe from potentially dangerous dogs.”Karen Richardson, communications director for the L.A.city attorney’s office, declined to comment.

L.A.Animal Services Communications Director Agnes Sibal-von Debschitz said that in response to Wright’s case, the agency formalized a disclosure policy in November that requires shelter employees to check a dog’s bite history before finalizing an adoption.

Valerio’s case raises questions about how s...