Delta Passenger Bitten by Veteran’s Emotional-Support Dog

Marlin Termaine Jackson of Daphne, Ala., was seated next to a Marine veteran with a dog on Delta Flight 1430, headed from Atlanta to San Diego, on Monday when the 50-pound dog bit him before takeoff.

According to Fox 5 Atlanta, a witness, Bridget Maddox-Peoples, said that Jackson’s face and body were left bloodied by the dog, and Jackson was escorted off the flight to receive medical attention. Jackson had been sitting by a window, with the dog’s owner in the middle seat and the dog sitting on his lap.

At the time of the incident, Jackson’s exact injuries were unknown. But in a statement, Delta said:

Prior to pushback of Flight 1430, ATL-SAN, a passenger sustained a bite from another passenger’s emotional support dog. The customer who was bitten was removed from the flight to receive medical attention.

Delta said that afterward, the dog was cleared by law enforcement and was put on another flight with its owner, Ronald Kevin Mundy Jr. of Mills River, N.C.

“The dog will fly in a kennel,” Delta added.

The dog was described as a lab mix, and in the gate area, witnesses said that Mundy was crying and saying, “I know they’re going to put him down.”

Read more at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fox 5 Atlanta.