It was a first for many in attendance. A special meeting in-front of the Thief River Falls City Council to determine the fate of a, "dangerous dog."

"Sooner or later, humans do have to come first," said Thief River Falls Police Chief Dick Wittenberg. "And we have three documented dog bites here and some of them are pretty serious."

Wittenberg sat next to the family of Renee Veselka, the owners of Tex the pit bull. He was making the case before city council that the dog should be put down.

"We also know that the dog has never had its shots, as far as we know," Wittenberg said. "There's lots of problems here and I don't think that we want to take on the liability of having this dog in-town."

Veselka contests two of the three incidents. She has previously received two "dangerous dog" letters.

The first came after a mother claimed her daughter was bitten back in 2016.

Veselka said Tex's dew claw caught a child in the head by accident.

The second incident Veselka was there for. That was when Tex sent a women to the hospital.

The council was split on the issue.

"I've went through this once myself," said Thief River Falls city council member Jerald Brown referring to one of his dogs. "I had to make the choice the next morning. It didn't get the option to do it [bite] again."

"One attack is too many, period. If it's a small child it's a horrible thing. Your shots are not up to date. I'm sorry, I'm a dog lover too, but this is one of those cases," council member Steven Narverud said. "I'm sorry, but you should've made that decision after that dog bit that lady. It should've been put down and you should've done it."

However, some in attendance stood up in Tex's defense.

"I work with this dog almost every night after work. And he's always been a real nice dog," said a man familiar with Tex.

Ultimately, inconclusive police reports lead the final decision.

"I don't like the idea, if there's just a neighbor that doesn't like this dog, that is now filing reports," said city council member Josh Hagen. "People do that stuff."

The latest incident a man claims he was bitten on the street walking to work. However, police reports show that no dog was present when they arrived on scene.

Veselka said the dog was locked in the garage during the incident.

"How it took place? Ok, maybe there is room for doubt there, but we've got evidence of three dog bites," Wittenberg said.

The council voted that dog owner must meet a set of requirements to bring the dog home otherwise it will be put down.

"I definitely thought he was done for right now," Veselka said. "But, we got the chance so we're going to make the best out of it."

Tex is not home yet. The owners have to meet a lot of requirements including, getting the dogs vaccinations up to date, providing a proper enclosure, posting signs around the house that there is a, "dangerous animal." They need to muzzle the dog whenever it's not in the enclosure, register the dog with the city, get it special tags to identify it as a, "dangerous dog."

They also need to get a minimum $300,000 liability insurance policy all by May 1st, otherwise the dog will be put down.

Police said the dog owners have failed to meet similar requirements in the past.