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LYNNWOOD—During Council Comments at the City Council Meeting on Monday, October 6, 2025, Lynnwood Councilwoman Derica Escamilla denied that her 109-pound, 2-year-old male Dogo Argentino/Boxer mix named Sumo has ever bitten anyone. She also denied that the dog has ever attacked a human.

“Just clarify,” Escamilla said, “My dog has not bit a human for the record, but there were injuries, I believe. I’ve not read the report.”

“Maybe we don’t,” Mayor Christine Frizzell said to Escamilla to stop her from speaking as a potential lawsuit against Escamilla and potentially the City of Lynnwood is underway by victims. However, Councilwoman Escamilla insisted she speak.

“No, ma’am, but it matters because I want people to know that it was from separating the dogs,” Escamilla said. “The dog has not attacked a human and I am open to anyone in the public that wants to talk about this with me one on one. I’m open to a meeting. I am open to tell you each incident and what happened. I’m available to clarify anything that is out there again.”

Escamilla’s dog Sumo dragged Jessaca Kalles, one of two persons bitten during the May 23, 2025, attack, across the street. “The dog [Sumo] is literally dragging her,” a 911 caller said.

Kalles, one of two persons bitten by Escamilla’s dog Sumo on May 23 issued a statement to the Lynnwood Times to the councilwoman’s comments: “Sumo gave me 5 puncture wounds in the ankle and bit Thomas on both of his wrists. Our dog Maverick has never bitten anyone and thanks to sumo I had to shell out $1800.00 in vet bills and Thomas is still waiting to see if there is permanent damage to his right wrist.”

According to the human victims, Sumo charged at them and their dog, Maverick, after jumping over her chain-linked fence.

Escamilla’s “family pet” has bitten two humans and at least three dogs within the last 12 months according to two Hearing Examiner appeal hearings for which the councilwoman testified, multiple police reports, witness statements, multiple 911 calls, pictures of bite wounds from victims, and Lynnwood Times interviews with the victims.

An October 2024 attack by Sumo led to the death of a beloved 13-year-old Pomeranian, Brandy and then six months later, her life partner Margharita, who allegedly passed from “depression” and a broken heart her owner told the Lynnwood Times.

Beloved 13-year-old Pomeranian, Brandy – a twirling “cuddly bear” who loved kids and costumes – suffered injuries needing $15,000 surgery, but with an unaffordable $11,000 downpayment, Castillo heartbreakingly euthanized her.

Brandy’s owner is haunted by Councilwoman Escamilla’s reluctance to financially help pay for the lifesaving surgery despite later claiming she could’ve tapped her 401(k) in the money during the Hearing Examiner appeal. Escamilla told the owner that she didn’t have the money forcing him to euthanize Brandy.

During the Hearing Examiner appeal hearing in February 2025 involving Castillo, Escamilla did confirm her phone conversation with Castillo and his partner in their attempt to have her pay for Brandy’s life-saving surgery. Just seconds after admitting she didn’t have the money to pay for the surgery, in her appeal hearing, Escamilla said, “they never asked me for money…I could’ve helped you, I could’ve pulled from my 401(k),” to pay for Brandy’s life-saving surgery.

Yet, Washington State Public Disclosure Financial Statements show that in 2024, Councilwoman Derica Escamilla’s had between $90,000 to $188,000 in investment and retirement accounts yet she “forgot” about these to save Brandy’s life she said in a statement: Capital Group American Funds (Value: $60,000.00 – $99,999.99), Charles Schwab (Value: $30,000.00 – $59,999.99), Vanguard (Value: Less than $30,000.00), Department of Retirement Systems (Value: Less than $30,000.00).

Councilwoman Escamilla told the Lynnwood Times that she “forgot” she had investments at the time of the incident and that the banks were closed.

Councilman Patrick Decker, who since June 2025, has made multiple requests of council leadership to add the consideration of creating a task force focused on revising Lynnwood’s animal control code to the docket.

During Monday’s meeting, Councilman Decker voiced frustration and outrage over the delay by Council leadership, particularly the Council President Nick Coelho, in addressing revisions to the animal control ordinance. He alleged that Council leadership of stonewalling and potential bias to protect a Councilwoman Escamilla.

Decker revealed that instead of forming a task force, the Council President Coelho decided to draft the ordinance himself, excluding him, who had been advocating for the revision. Decker also was not briefed on the progress or draft ordinance language.

The Council’s failure to act, Decker said, is a “dereliction of duty,” that risked community safety and fueled current public perceptions of a “cover-up.”

Below is Councilman Patrick Decker’s statement in its entirety:

“Now to address what Council President’s comments from a few minutes ago, let’s just put the facts out there so that people can understand the facts of this issue.

“Many, many months ago during new business, I asked if two council members would join me in requesting council leadership add to our agenda a discussion related to forming a task group to review and revise our animal control ordinance. I did this because a close friend of mine had just been attacked by a dog in the area, and I found that not only our code but the county code was woefully inadequate to address when this actually occurs. At the time, Council President commented he did not think we would need two other council members to join in the ask as he would get it put on the agenda right away. Consequently, I trustingly and somewhat naively withdrew my ask for support from two other council members.

“Looking back, now I realize that this was a very creative use of the powers of Council President. Had I insisted on the ask for two other council members to join me, council rules would have required the item to be placed on the agenda within 45 days. However, since I withdrew that ask at the request of Council President, trusting the Council President would indeed get it on the Council agenda shortly, there was no control over when it would be added to the agenda. Now, months later, months and months later, we still have not had that discussion.

“I would like to correct my comment in the press where I said the council tentative agenda item for examining the animal control code was set for late December. It actually is in the latter half of November, so I was incorrect, but I was speaking without notes in front of me and just impromptu during that conversation. So I apologize for getting the date wrong. The date where it is tentatively scheduled, coincidentally, falls just after the general election for city council members who were involved in these proceedings. Months to get it on the calendar, and the soonest it can be addressed is right after the general election.

“Further, Council President has decided that rather than forming a task force, he has decided that he should put the code together and bring it to council rather than having a task force to address it. Even at that, this item is marked tentatively for the date in November. It’s not yet a formalized agenda item and is subject to postponement at the whim of council leadership. None of this changes the fact that had this council taken action, as I asked months ago, there would not be so much justifiable anger and outrage over this among community members, and this would be a completed item long before the election were to take place, avoiding the appearance of an October surprise.

“We have had far too much dirt slinging and nauseating personal attacks on this election cycle. We certainly do not need another. I’ve spoken directly with individuals in the neighborhood who were mentioned in the news article about their experiences, and needless to say, they are frustrated, angry, and even terrified to walk sidewalks of the neighborhoods and extremely disappointed that this council has chosen to take no action on this item.

“Prior to an email that I received from Council President, I think it was today, but it could have been a day or two ago, the last comment I had on this after I pressed the issue was that he had not had time to discuss with the police chief. Since that comment, I have not heard anything further on the matter. Council President said he asked Chief Langdon to look at the code and make suggestions. Writing city code is not the responsibility of the police chief. That is our job. He has an incredible amount of responsibility, and kicking this issue to him is irresponsible. He is as busy with budget or more so than we are. This is something that we should have been addressing, not asking the chief to do our job for us.

“Council President, in an email to me today, claims that he forgot to include me in an email with draft ordinance language. It is amazing that he forgot to include the one person who has been asking for this for months and the council member who stated he was willing to spend time and effort on revising the code. Council President decided not to include me and drafted the code ex parte and then failed to notify me that he had done so, all while pushing out substantive discussions until shortly before I leave office.

“Further, Council President completely failed to update me on any progress or any plans to address this issue and stated we have not had time on our agenda for this item because we have been busy with budget discussions.

“He seems to have forgotten the hours and hours he spent pushing through legislation to legalize marijuana retail store in Lynnwood that for some reason took precedence over the safety of our community members. So rather than addressing a serious community safety issue, we have spent time passing legislation paving the way for additional marijuana stores, which of course potentially will cause additional community health and safety issues.

“I’ll not apologize for joining the community and expressing outrage at stonewalling over this issue, and I do believe there was intent to delay this until I was no longer on the council. I asked that a task force be set up to examine the code and decide what actions the council should take. I asked that Council Member Escamilla be recused from the discussions because it is her animal that has attacked members of the community and their pets multiple times, causing the death of at least one pet and leading to pain and anguish for others. None of my asks were addressed or acted on, leading us to where we are today.

“Did you know that if you are bit by an animal with rabies, the animal carrying the disease may not even be showing symptoms, but you can still contract the fatal disease? The only way to determine if you have been infected is for the animal to be euthanized and a test done of the brain tissue. If, as was the case here, the owner of an animal refuses to allow the test to be done, those bitten can only wait for the rabies incubation period to determine if they have contracted the disease or, alternatively, go through a very painful rabies disease inoculation series. They will only know they have the disease once symptoms start, and once symptoms of rabies have begun, it is 100% fatal 100% of the time. There is no time. There is no exception. So those bitten are left to find out if they are literally going to die of rabies, or alternatively, they can begin rabies injection protocol.

“Per the families who were attacked, there was no proof of a rabies vaccine for the dog provided in a timely manner, so they were literally wondering if they had contracted rabies. Our code should not favor the animal that attacks members of the community, nor should it favor the owner of that animal. It should protect the families and pets seeking only to walk our streets safely, free from vicious attacks by dangerous animals.

“There should be zero tolerance for a vicious animal in our community, one that has been designated as such by our animal control officer. This council should have addressed this months ago, even if it meant forestalling the work on legalizing marijuana sales, and the responsibility for that failure falls on council leadership.

“I’ll not apologize for my comments on social media other than correcting the date.

“I’m outraged that this council has been aware of this serious safety issue and has failed to take action. I and the community are left to wonder why it has taken council leadership so long to address this.

“It would have taken only a few minutes of time on the council agenda for a task force to have been created. So don’t tell me there was no time due to budget issues, especially when this council leadership found time to invite the marijuana lobbyists to come to council and spend 45 minutes lobbying for pot shops. We probably could have reduced them to 40 minutes and then spent 5 minutes forming a task force to examine the code.

“Why did this not move forward previously?

“We could have comforted the outraged community that the council is aware of the risk, is aware of the problem, is aware of the situation, and we are taking steps to address it and safeguard our streets.

“Instead, we have an angry populace stating that they believe it is a cover-up because the offending animal belongs to a council member. This could have been taken care of a long ago. This is a failure on the part of council leadership and a dereliction of duty which puts this community at risk every single day.

“Council President sent me an email this afternoon explaining he is unhappy with my comments. I’m not concerned with the council president being unhappy with my comments. Let me read a few comments from the individuals who are unhappy with each of us, every one of us on this council because of our lack of action. These are the individuals I’m concerned about:

• Just one human bite, they’re supposed to be put down.
• So I’m just reading verbatim here. She had used her power to keep alive and I am an animal lover.
• These are verbatim. I’ve been bitten and so I’m very familiar with the laws and process.
• Technically, she’s liable up to 250,000 injuries under Washington law. That depends on the case, but either way, that many times, you know there are bribes or threats being made.

“I did speak to the individuals in the neighborhood directly so that I’m not operating off of hearsay. I have heard directly from them about the pain, the trauma, the suffering that they have occurred.

“I deliberately and specifically brought this to council very early, as soon as I was aware, so that we could address this a long, long time ago.

“I also wanted to bring it early so it would not be about a council member. It would be an action the council wanted to take.

“We failed to do so, and now this has become a very major issue right before the election, which is exactly what I had hoped to avoid by having the council address it earlier. That we didn’t is the fault of council leadership, and we are where we are because of that. Thank you.”

Author: Mario Lotmore