SAN ANTONIO – Janie Najera remembers seeing the dogs bark and charge the fence in the yard next door, but what happened next would shatter her world.
“He just couldn’t get him off of him. And he kept on screaming, and he was calling out to me, and he kept on saying, ‘Janie, Janie, I can’t get the dog off of me.’ And I was screaming to see if somebody could hear us, you know,” she said, recalling the deadly dog attack that happened in February 2023 on Depla Street.
Janie Najera was bitten and knocked to the ground by the pitbull, and her husband jumped out of the car to save her. Ramon Najera didn’t survive the attack.
“I could hear my husband screaming, but … I’m thankful that the fire department got there,” she said. “My husband is my hero because he saved my life. But the fire department, they’re my heroes, too, because if they hadn’t gotten there, I think the dogs would have finished me up too.”
Janie Najera has never sat down for an interview, but chose now because she wants justice for her husband. In the video above, you can watch the entire interview with Janie Najera in our Spriester Sessions.
The Najera family is making sure the dogs’ owners, Christian Moreno and Abilene Schneider, are held accountable in a courtroom. The couple pleaded guilty to a charge of dangerous dog attack resulting in death in August and are in the punishment phase of the trial.
Janie Najera testified in the trial on Tuesday and tearfully recounted the harrowing incident, the painful recovery from the dog bites she suffered and the guilt of surviving the ordeal.
You can watch the testimony below.
The family has also filed suit against the city. The family alleges San Antonio’s Animal Care Services knew these dogs were dangerous well before the deadly attack.
“I feel like they didn’t do their job. They didn’t do their job. They failed me. They failed my husband to. You know, if they would have done what they had to do, my husband would be here. It’s just it’s just not fair. Would happen. They could have done a lot more,” Janie Najera said.
As she detailed what happened that day, the kind of man her husband was, and what she believes justice should look like, Ramon Najera’s children sat behind her, sometimes nodding, and sometimes wiping away tears.
“I lived through it every day. This tragedy, you know, even in my quiet time, I might just wander. So, you know. And I think about him, how he was hurting so bad, you know, and there was no policeman that came. I kept on saying we’re where, where are the policemen. They have guns, they could have used the guns and those dogs. But I’m just thankful that the fire department came to my rescue. And I even went to the fire station, and I met them all, and. And I thank them, and I thank them from the bottom of my heart. I was so thankful,” she said.
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