Pinellas congressional hopeful Anna Paulina Luna sued over dog bite

The family of a child dog-bite victim is suing Pinellas County congressional candidate Anna Paulina Luna, her campaign, her husband, who owns the dog, and the sponsors of a fishing tournament where the incident occurred last November.

Chad Clarke, the father the 9-year-old boy bitten by the dog, alleges in the lawsuit that the dog lunged at the boy and bit him, and that Luna, attending the event along with her husband, and her campaign are “co-owners” of the dog.

The lawsuit says the non-profit Old Salt Fishing Foundation, which held the tournament, was negligent in allowing the dog in a place where dogs were prohibited.

Clarke’s social media posts say the boy received 11 stitches, and the lawsuit seeks more than $30,000 for medical treatment, scarring, pain and “mental anguish.”

The complaint says state law defines the owner of a dog as any person or organization that keeps, controls or has custody of the dog.

A Pinellas County sheriff’s deputy at the scene reported that witnesses told him the incident occurred when the boy and others were playing with a football, and he caught the ball and ran near the dog, a Belgian Malinois named Gunner.

The report says no charges were filed.

Adolfo Valero, attorney for Andy Gamberzky, Luna’s husband, said Gamberzky alone owns the dog, which he called a “highly trained” animal provided by Homefront Canine, an organization that provides service animals for veterans with disabilities.

He wouldn’t specify the nature of Gamberzky’s disability or the service performed by the dog, but said the dog is not an “emotional support” animal.

Asked why a highly trained service dog would attack a child, he said the dog was on a three-foot leash held by Gamberzky, but that the boy ran within reach of the leash. “We believe there was” provocation for the bite, he said.

He said the couple have had the dog more than a year and that it has never bitten anyone before.

Campaign spokesman James Blair said, “That’s insane” when asked whether the campaign co-owns the dog, and denied that Luna and Gamberzky were attending the event as a campaign function.

“This was not campaign-related and it is unfortunate that some are trying to politicize a child’s injury,” he said.

None of the parties would say whether Luna, her campaign or Gamberzky has offered any compensation to the Clarkes for medical bills.

As of late this week, court records didn’t list an attorney for the fishing foundation; voice mails and emails to the organization’s office Wednesday and Thursday didn’t produce a response by deadline for this column.