CAMDEN — The state is seeking restitution for an 87-year-old Camden woman who was nearly killed in December by a dog that her family says should be euthanized.

A pit bull charged and mauled Mary Dearborn while she was walking on Cobb Road in Camden on Dec. 1, police said.

Dearborn was taken to Pen Bay Medical Center in Rockport and then flown by a LifeFlight helicopter to a trauma center. She spent nearly a month in a medically induced coma and the doctors initially told the family that she was not expected to survive. She is now recovering at home.

The pit bull, Ollie, came from a residence on nearby Sweetbrier Road. Camden police issued summonses to the dog’s owner, Beth Kwiatkowski, 54, for keeping a dangerous dog, and having a dog at large.

Kwiatkowski’s attorney, Elizabeth Noble of Camden, filed denials to the pair of civil violations on her client’s behalf. Noble was granted a continuance from a March 15 hearing, saying that Kwiatkowski’s insurance company had not yet completed its investigation.

The next court hearing is scheduled for April 12 in Knox County Unified Court.

Camden police Detective Curt Andrick said the dog was placed in a state-mandated 10-day quarantine and now is confined to a run on the owner’s property. He said no complaints about the dog had been filed with the police department before the attack.

The District Attorney’s Office, which is seeking restitution for Dearborn, has not filed a motion with the court to have the dog euthanized.

However, attorney Sarah Gilbert of Camden said Dearborn’s family believes the dog is extremely dangerous and should be euthanized.

“It’s the family’s understanding that the defendant has already previously offered to euthanize the dog, and that the dog has a known history of aggression and needing to be muzzled at all times,” Gilbert said.

The attorney said the physicians in the emergency department at Pen Bay first reported the dog attack to police. Dearborn suffered an extensive temporal artery injury to her head, resulting in intense bleeding. There were two long nail or bite wounds to her head that required stapling, Gilbert said.

“The family expects this attack to be taken very seriously, in light of Ms. Dearborn’s life-threatening injuries. There is no place for a dog like this in a residential neighborhood, surrounded by vulnerable people like Ms. Dearborn and neighborhood children,” Gilbert said.

Gilbert said the family had not yet decided whether to file a civil suit seeking damages for the attack.

Noble did not respond to an email seeking comment on Tuesday.

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