PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Berkshire district attorney on Thursday said she did not anticipate any charges against a good Samaritan who tried to save his neighbor but accidentally killed him instead. 

 

District Attorney Andrea Harrington described the incident in Adams that started with a dog attack and ended with the death of Joshua Jadusingh, 27, from a crossbow as an unusual occurrence that took investigators by surprise. 

 

"It really is a chain of very, very unfortunate circumstances," she said at a press conference in her office on Thursday afternoon. Because of the nature of the fatal incident, she said her office wanted to be forthcoming on what it knows at this point, although the case is still under investigation. 

 

Harrington said the neighbor, who has not been identified, was friends with Jadusingh and is very distraught over what happened. 

 

"Everything in the investigation indicates the neighbor was reacting in a very stressful circumstance, was doing what he could to neutralize the dog to protect life," she said. "At this point, I don't anticipate that this office will be filing any criminal charges against the neighbor by all accounts appears to be a good Samaritan."

 

She was able to say that it began when the neighbor heard Jadusingh yelling for help about noontime on Wednesday and that he knew it was about Jadusingh's dogs, Max and Durma. 

 

The two adult male pitbulls were owned by Jadusingh and his girlfriend, and lived at the apartment with the couple's young child, who was with the Jadusingh at the time of the attack. Harrington said they were known to be aggressive and had fought in the past so were being kept in separate kennels. Max was known to be particularly aggressive and had attacked and injured someone in 2018. It was not known how or why they were not confined at the time of the incident. 

 

Harrington, who visited the scene on Wednesday, said the neighbor had grabbed his crossbow, opened the front door and seen one of the dogs at the top of the stairway landing. He shot upwards and the bolt caught the scruff of the dog's neck and then went through the door, hitting Jadusingh, who was behind it. 

 

Officers had arrived on scene by that point and found the dogs still fighting inside. They shot both dogs but one ran outside and was shot in the street. 

 

"They confirmed five rounds were fired, which is consistent with what ballistics evidence shows from the scene," she said, and to the necropsy done on the dogs.

 

Jadusingh's name was withheld until late Wednesday afternoon pending positive identification by the Office of the State Medical Examiner in Westfield. That autopsy had been delayed by this morning's wintry weather that had also precluded the lead investigating officer, State Police Detective Lt. Edward Culver, from attending the press conference. 

 

She did not believe there was a criminal liability in Massachusetts for owning a dangerous dog and declined to comment on whether Jadusingh's partner could be held liable for the actions of her dog. 

 

"Owning dogs is a big responsibility," she said. "I wouldn't necessarily specify about any particular breeds, I think dogs from many different breeds can be aggressive and for people who own dogs who are known to be aggressive, they're taking on a very big responsibility."