San Antonio woman gets 6-year sentence over dog attack that cost elderly man his legs

A judge on Thursday sentenced a San Antonio woman to six years in prison over a 2023 dog attack that forced the amputation of an elderly man’s legs, News4SA reports.

A German shepherd and pit bull belonging to Danielle Henderson, 34, escaped her house and attacked 76-year-old Max de Los Santos on San Antonio’s West Side, according to the case filed against her. After 14 surgeries, doctors were able to reattach De Los Santos’s ear and mend his other wounds, but they were forced to amputate his legs due to the severity of his injuries, as the Express-News reports.

“I want to apologize because I didn’t raise my animals to be that way,” Henderson told the courtroom, according to News4SA. “I just really want to say how sorry I am to you and your wife.”

A separate News4SA investigation found that someone had filed a complaint about Henderson’s two dogs a day before the attack on De Los Santos.

Henderson will also need to pay restitution as part of her sentencing.

The mauling occurred six months after 81-year-old Air Force Veteran Ramon Najera Jr. was killed by roaming dogs while visiting a friend’s house on the West Side. The headline-making attack sparked a community conversation about the city’s problem with dangerous canines and its underfunded Animal Care Services department.

In September, the two dog owners involved in that incident — Abilene Schneider and Christian Moreno — were sentenced to 15 and 18 years in prison.

In response to the string of high-profile attacks, District 7 San Antonio City Councilwoman Marina Alderete Gavito introduced new rules for animal ownership in the Alamo City, including stiffer fines for bad owners and forced sterilization of roaming dogs.

“We don’t want to experience another fatality, another injury or any of these horrible consequences that happen when dogs and irresponsible dog owners are not paying attention,” De Los Santos’ wife, Beatrice, told the Current at the time the new ordinance was proposed.

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This article appears in Apr 2-15, 2025.