SPANISH LAKE, Mo. (AP) – A St. Louis County man killed by one of his pit bulls was an advocate for people with disabilities.

Police say 45-year-old Adonis Reddick was found dead in his home Monday night. He had bite marks on his neck. Two pit bulls were found in the home, one of them so aggressive that police had to fatally shot the animal. Authorities believe the aggressive dog bit Reddick.

Police aren’t sure how long Reddick had been dead. Relatives had not heard from him since Saturday.

Reddick lived independent despite development disabilities. He won a national award last year, recognizing his efforts to train, educate and support others with disabilities. He frequently spoke to groups and advocated for better job opportunities for those with disabilities.

Man killed by his dog was advocate for the disabled

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Police Say North St. Louis County Man Died From Dog Bite

Associated PressMay 10, 2016 11:04 AM

SPANISH LAKE, Mo. (AP/KMOX) – St. Louis County Police have released autopsy results on the man found dead Monday in his North County home.

The family of Adonis Reddick, 45, did a well-being check and found him dead. Two dogs were in the home – one was euthanized, the other taken by animal control.

Police say Reddick died from penetrating and perforating wounds to his neck.

Our previous reporting is as follows:

Police are trying to determine if a 45-year-old man found dead in his St. Louis County home was attacked and killed by one or both of his pit bulls.

St. Louis County police were called to the home near Spanish Lake about 10:30 a.m. Monday. The victim was found dead and had bite marks on his body. His name has not been released.

Relatives found two pit bulls in the home, one of them was acting aggressively. Police say the aggressive dog could not be controlled and had to be fatally shot by an officer. The other pit bull was calm and taken in for evaluation.

The cause of death has not been determined. It wasn’t clear if the man was bitten before or after he died.

Police Say North St. Louis County Man Died From Dog Bite

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Mauled to Death by a Pit Bull, Adonis Reddick Was Still Nobody’s Victim 

^{By Doyle Murphy – June 22nd,2016}

Traces of Adonis Reddick’s battles fill the house on the hill.

There’s the trophy he carried home from a national convention in 2015. Pictures of the daughter and granddaughter no one expected him to have. Fliers for organizations he built so others would learn to fight alongside him.

And, on a southern window, a darker memento of his last battle: flecks of dog blood spattered across a low-hanging shade.

The house itself — a three-bedroom, three-bathroom in Spanish Lake with a sunroom that looks out over a backyard ringed with trees — is a testament to the victories he notched against long odds.

Adonis ignored relatives who worried the home was too big and too much responsibility for a man with his physical limitations. Born with cerebral palsy, he was about five feet four inches tall and weighed maybe 115 pounds. He walked with halting, jerky steps and struggled so hard to form words, his speech was sometimes impenetrable to strangers. But he also possessed a steely will and a tactician’s wit, sharpened by sarcastic humor.

At any rate, Adonis wasn’t asking permission to buy a house. He was buying a house. He quietly negotiated the real estate deal himself and moved in six years ago, bringing with him his teenage daughter.

Upon learning of the purchase, his father, Aaron Reddick, remembers asking what Adonis needed him to do.

“Nothing,” Adonis told him, the word emerging slowly but full of a mischievous pride. “Dad, you taught me well.”

It was Adonis’ father and brother who found the 45-year-old dead on May 9, laid out on his tile floor after he was mauled by a pit bull he’d taken in. The death was gruesome and shocking, and the comment sections on news stories soon unwound in arguments over dangerous dogs. Adonis was seen as defenseless or foolish, rendered by his disability incapable of understanding the peril of inviting a dangerous animal into his home.

But the assumption that Adonis was a victim who didn’t know any better seemed ridiculous to those who knew him well.

“That’s what bothers me about the reaction to the dog story — like he didn’t have any sense,” says Adonis’ friend Christopher Worth. “That’s bull crap. He was a strategist.”

http://www.riverfronttimes.com/stlouis/mauled-to-death-by-a-pit-bull-adonis-reddick-was-nobodys-victim/Content?oid=3081136

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2016 Dog Bite Fatality: Advocate for People with Disabilities Mauled to Death by His Pit Bull in Missouri

^{DogsBite.org reports}

Missouri Legislature – Bill at Stake

In mid-April, a state preemption bill barring local governments from enacting breed-specific ordinances passed the House chamber in Missouri. HB 1811 is sponsored by Rep. Ron Hicks, who sponsored a similar bill in 2014 that failed. After HB 1811 was assigned to the Senate Agriculture committee, it was scheduled for a hearing on April 27. Committee chairman, Sen. Brian Munzlinger, unexpectedly cancelled the hearing. The end of the legislative session is May 13.

St. Louis County has nearly 2-dozen jurisdictions with breed-specific ordinances. The passage of HB 1811 would nullify them. The location of this man’s death in Spanish Lake is not one of them.

Read more: https://blog.dogsbite.org/2016/05/st-louis-county-man-found-dead-in-home.html

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Pit Bull Owners Killed Or Seriously Injured By Their Own Dogs

The following is a collection of news stories where pit bull owners and their immediate family members were seriously wounded or killed by their own dogs. It is common to read pit bull owners say, “it’s all how you raise them” and “it’s the owners” in comment threads after a serious or fatal attack. This blog post is an attempt to squash that theory once and for all.

Read more: https://www.daxtonsfriends.com/2015/12/pit-bull-owner-killed-injured-by-own-pets/

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American Pit Bull Terrier

The American Pit Bull Terrier is, like all the ‘bully’ breeds, one of this group of descendants of the British ‘bull and terrier’ type fighting bulldogs. Once imported into the United States, it was bred up to be bigger again, and again used in baiting animals and in dogfighting. The American Kennel Club (founded 1884) was unwilling to register these fighting dogs, so in 1898 the United Kennel Club was founded specifically to register working pit-fighting dogs and to promote dogfighting. In order to be registered, a dog had to first win three pit fights^7,8,9. The American Pit Bull Terrier (APBT) became a ‘breed’. As dogfighting declined in popularity in the 1930s and 1940s, Colby (the most famous and prolific breeder of these dogs) began to search for a new market and began promoting the APBT as family pets^10,11. This despite the fact that his breeding lines included child killers¹².

The APBT is of medium intelligence, and it is athletic. They have plenty of energy and exuberance for life. They are affectionate companions are often referred to as a “nanny dog”, which leads many families to believe that they are suitable companions for children. Many can live happily with children and never have an issue, but there are many cases of the family pit bull suddenly attacking or killing a child in the household. The Pit Bull advocacy group BADRAP recently retracted their original “nanny dog” statements (https://www.facebook.com/BADRAP.org/posts/10151460774472399)¹³. In 2013 and 2014, in the United States, 27 children were killed by Pit Bulls and their mixes. Most of these children were killed by family pet pit bulls that had never been neglected or abused and had always loved the child. As with all breeds, the traits needed for their original tasks remain in the dogs – in this case, the sudden explosive aggression that was necessary to survive in the fighting pit. An APBT may never show this aggression, but if it does there will be no warning and the attack will not be easy to stop. Extreme caution should always be taken when this breed interacts with children. They are fun loving dogs that have “clownish” behaviors. Despite, their many positive qualities, this breed may not be suitable for everyone. Their high energy requires a family that can accommodate and appreciate this aspect of their personality. They usually do best with active families. Many American Pit Bull Terriers get calmer as they age and an older dog may work for a more reserved family.