{"id":81891,"date":"2025-12-13T05:23:24","date_gmt":"2025-12-13T05:23:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/81891\/"},"modified":"2025-12-13T05:23:24","modified_gmt":"2025-12-13T05:23:24","slug":"universal-orlando-guest-attacked-by-guard-dog-as-she-asked-security-for-help-with-autistic-daughter-lawsuit-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/81891\/","title":{"rendered":"Universal Orlando guest attacked by guard dog as she asked security for help with autistic daughter, lawsuit says"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Virginia woman is suing Universal Studios<\/a> Florida and a contracted security<\/a> firm after allegedly being attacked by a security dog while entering the theme park with her autistic daughter last summer.<\/p>\n

Jennifer Rhodes, who filed the complaint Wednesday, said she visited the Orlando resort in August 2024 with her three young children, one of whom, the suit says<\/a>, suffers from severe autism<\/a>.<\/p>\n

According to the lawsuit<\/a>, Rhodes contacted Universal\u2019s guest services ahead of her visit to discuss how to best assist her autistic child with park entry. She was reportedly instructed to approach a security guard on arrival for help.<\/p>\n

When Rhodes and her family arrived at the park, she approached a patrolling security guard who was accompanied by a guard dog, the court filing states. After confirming the guard worked for the park, Rhodes attempted to inform him about her daughter\u2019s condition.<\/p>\n

But, the lawsuit alleges, the dog \u201cwithout provocation \u2026 jumped on [Rhodes] and savagely attacked her,\u201d biting her arm, wrist and abdomen and causing what the filing describes as \u201cserious and permanent injuries.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The woman\u2019s lawsuit claims that, without provocation, a guard dog bit her arm, wrist and abdomen as she enquired for help at Universal Orlando\/ (Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)<\/p>\n

The alleged damages include physical injuries, pain and suffering, scarring, disfigurement, emotional distress, loss of enjoyment of life, medical treatment and expenses and lost wages.<\/p>\n

Rhodes\u2019 attorneys argue that the security company, Southern Coast K9, is liable for negligence and that Universal Orlando<\/a> is also at fault for contracting the firm and failing to ensure guest safety.<\/p>\n

In the lawsuit, Rhodes is seeking at least $5 million in damages from both companies.<\/p>\n

The Independent has contacted Universal Orlando and Southern Coast K9 for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Virginia woman is suing Universal Studios Florida and a contracted security firm after allegedly being attacked by…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":81892,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[1827,45545,45543,139,141,140,45544,3434,3437],"class_list":["post-81891","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-dog","tag-guard-dog","tag-jennifer-rhodes","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-security-guard","tag-universal-orlando","tag-universal-studios"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81891","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81891"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81891\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81892"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81891"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}