London Colvin – the 21-year-old Army Reservist and Norfolk State University student who was attacked by a Norfolk police dog last week – is recovering, but she has a long way to go. Colvin, who is a Woodbridge Senior High School graduate, has been recuperating in Woodbridge since the Jan. 25 attack.
“She’s still doing a lot of crying, but our hope is that it’s going to get better and better and better, so that she can get back to where she was before this event occurred,” said Jon Babineau, a lawyer at Riddick Babineau that is representing Colvin.
According to Babineau, the charges of disorderly conduct and resisting arrest filed against Colvin will be dropped tomorrow at the District Court in Norfolk.
“The charges are going to be dismissed tomorrow morning at 9a.m. in the General District Court in Norfolk. London [Colvin] will not be there – the judge did not require her to be present. But the City Attorney’s Office will be there, and they’ll be a representative from the Commonwealth Attorney’s Office too, because one of the charges was charged under the City code – and another was under the state code – so it requires some collaboration,” said Babineau.
The City Attorney, Bernard Pishko, has stated that Norfolk will dismiss the charges. Pishko also agreed to pay for any of Colvin’s medical bills not covered by her insurance, according to a release from Lori Crouch, the Public Relations Manager for Norfolk.
The Colvin family is currently looking at their options in terms of filing a lawsuit against Norfolk for the incident.
“[A lawsuit] is one of the avenues we will be pursuing as a civil action against the City, as a result of the conduct of the police officers,” said Babineau.
In the next week, Colvin will meet with a plastic surgeon to begin the procedures needed to close the open wound on her leg.
“She’s getting regular medical care for her wounds. She is going to see a plastic surgeon next week so they can begin to start the process of figuring out what to do with the wound that is open, that can’t be sutured because of extreme tissue loss in that area as a result of the dog attack,” said Babineau.
There is still no word on how the injuries she sustained from the police dog attack will impact her status as an Army Reservist.
“We have to wait and see what happens medically, before there can be any conclusion there,” Babineau said continuing, “She’s going to miss her drill this weekend, and we’re going to anticipate that she’ll have to miss probably another month or two of drills. It all depends on what the doctors say, in terms of fixing her leg. We don’t anticipate there being any permanent injury…she will have scarring obviously, but we [think] she’ll have full function of her leg returned shortly.”
Colvin will also be going back to Norfolk State University next week to resume her studies.
“She’s missed two weeks. The school has said, ‘You’ve got to make it up.’ Without a lot more distractions, I think she’ll be in a position to catch up and not lose the semester,” said Babineau.
