Her dad’s death led to tougher penalties for dangerous dog owners in Hawaiʻi. Now her daughter tests law after attack

In 2024, Shannon Matson pushed for the passing of a state law that significantly toughens the legal consequences for owners of dangerous dogs after the death of her 71-year-old father, Bob Northrop.

He was mauled by four large dogs while walking to a friend’s house on Outrigger Drive in Ocean View in 2023.

Now, two years after the passage of Act 224, Matson said: “Our family never thought we’d be the ones testing the law we helped pass.”

On Mother’s Day, Matson’s 12-year-old daughter, Penny, was riding her bike in the Hawaiian Acres subdivision in Kurtistown when a dog began chasing her. The dog attacked her bike, causing her to fall and break her collarbone. Her uncle was nearby and stopped the dog from biting her, Matson said.

“This was extremely retraumatizing and terrifying for all of us,” she said. “When my uncle called me and told me she was injured, the 1-minute drive felt like an hour because I had no idea what had happened, and there were so many thoughts racing through my head.”

Matson said the dog that chased her daughter has been aggressive toward other neighbors and had chased another bike rider a few days earlier.

Despite filing a police report and calling Animal Control, no officers followed up with the neighbor in the days after the attack, Matson said. So she said she located the dogs and pushed officers to follow up.

“We were told that a friend of the dog owner had picked up the dog and her two puppies, so when I reached out to that person to tell her what had happened, she had no idea,” Matson said. “She has small children of her own and was unaware that the dog had just attacked my daughter. We both called Animal Control, and they did pick up the three dogs.”

But Animal Control informed Matson that they could not connect the dogs to the dangerous dog case. Instead, they were considered abandoned dogs, meaning the owner could reclaim them at any point.

“After all this work we put into this law, along with the fact that multiple people could testify that this dog is dangerous, that there is a witness to the attack, and that my daughter suffered bodily injuries, is not enough to consider the dog dangerous doesn’t make sense to me,” Matson said.

Animal Control did not answer or return three calls from Big Island Now.

Another Puna resident, Sean O’Phelan, has had similar experiences with the Hawai’i Police Department with multiple incidents involving dogs off leash as well as a recent attack that left his hand majorly injured at Mike’s Automotive Repair in Pāhoa on May 20.

“I have had to fight this battle all the time in Nanawale with people who walk their dogs off leash, which is illegal and also against the bylaws for our neighborhood association,” OʻPhelan said. “I have reported incidents to Animal Control, who redirect me to the police, who redirect me to Animal Control, and so on and so forth. The only time someone was charged was because I was also threatened.”

On May 20, OʻPhelan was dropping his car off with his regular mechanic when he witnessed and responded to an employee experiencing a grand mal seizure. During the medical emergency, the mechanic’s dog came out to the garage and proceeded to bite down on OʻPhelan’s hand and attack the man having a seizure.

“I’m doing my best to keep this person alive while fighting the dog off me and the person having the seizure,” O’Phelan said. “When the police and medics showed up, they made it an even bigger scene. They were just walking around, distracted by the dog, instead of responding to the guy who had just had a seizure and was attacked by the dog.

“They even asked me to deal with the dog and I said no. This is not my shop, not my dog and the cops were very rude. They had no protocol or motivation to actually deal with this dog that had attacked at least two people.”

OʻPhelan went to Urgent Care for his hand, which was almost immediately infected by the dog’s bite, he said. The next day, he made a police report and pressed charges due to the injuries from the dog.

“If I had come there with my 4-year old child, she could have died. This dog was gigantic and dangerous,” OʻPhelan said. “I do think the police should have followed up with me by now about the dog. I’m hoping it was taken away, but I am going to follow up with Animal Control when I get my x-rays back.”

After the dog bite, OʻPhelan had to pay for an Urgent Care visit, a visit to his primary care physician and x-rays, which would have not been the case if the business did not break the law with a unleashed dog in a public space, he said. He also thinks he will have lasting nerve damage from this incident.

Despite his injuries, OʻPhelan does not have hope that the dog owners will face repercussions and the dog will remain unleashed at the business.

“Nothing ever happens to anybody despite there being total negligence,” O’Phelan said. “I don’t expect any recourse because there often is not recourse with dogs causing injuries. Regardless of how they behave, dogs are dangerous and some people should not be allowed to be dog owners.

“Unfortunately, it seems like law enforcement only gets involved in the worst case scenarios. It shouldn’t have to go that far for dog owners to face accountability.”

Before the state law was passed, it was possible in Hawaiʻi County to prosecute the owners of dangerous dogs that maimed or killed people on felony charges. However, without an equivalent state law, the county’s ordinance could not be implemented because the state’s maximum penalty was a petty misdemeanor.

After learning about the limited charges facing the dogs’ owners, Matson went to Oʻahu to testify in favor of the bill. She gathered hundreds of pieces of testimony and engaged people from across the state.

Since Act 224 passed in 2024, there have been no felony cases brought against any dangerous dog owners on the Big Island.

According to data from January through April 2026, Animal Control has taken in 2,760 animals. It issued 91 citations: 23 for dangerous dogs, 38 for stray animal violations and 23 for dog license violations.

Matson spoke to the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office about her daughter’s injury, but she said she was told they didn’t know if they could pursue a case because her daughter wasn’t technically bitten.

“I think that we should test the limits of the law because we don’t know if legislation is effective until we test it in real life,” Matson said. “This has all been very frustrating, especially because this injury is going to affect my daughter’s entire summer, which is hard for any kid. She is in pain, and this was all preventable.”

A week after the incident, Matson saw two more puppies in the front yard of the dog owner’s home and eventually spoke to her about everything.

“She was initially aggressive with me, but when I explained that this was my kid who was hurt and asked how she would feel if it was her child, she apologized and allowed us to surrender the other two puppies to Animal Control,” Matson said. “Some people are not in a place to have dogs, and when dogs act aggressively, when they hurt people, the owners need to face some kind of consequence. This does not have to happen.”

While Matson said Animal Control commended her for talking to her neighbor, she said it should be Animal Control’s job.

“At the very least, this dog owner offered an apology, which is more than the dog owners responsible for my father’s death ever did,” Matson said. “Running into these roadblocks for my daughter mixed with the lack of justice for my father—it has just been an extremely difficult time.”

Matson is currently running for the County Council District 5 seat and will continue to address this issue regardless of the election’s outcome this fall. For now, she urges the public to file reports with police any time they encounter issues with an aggressive animal.

“Having a record of aggressive behavior is extremely important for these dangerous dog cases,” Matson said. “We can prevent death, serious injury, and long-term trauma from these attacks while also reducing the number of dogs in unsafe homes.”

Matson took Penny to a follow-up appointment this week and was told that she would need to wear a sling for at least eight weeks and have minimal movement to help the collarbone heal on its own. If it doesn’t begin to heal, she will need surgery.

“This injury is keeping her from swimming, and it may even keep her from performing in the ‘Frozen’ musical at the Hilo Palace Theater if it is too strenuous for her,” Matson said. “That just isn’t fair for a 12-year-old on summer break.”