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SAN FRANCISCO (CBS 5 / AP) ― A high-profile attorney is getting involved in the Christmas Day tiger attack at the San Francisco Zoo.

Mark Geragos is representing the two survivors of the attack -- 19-year-old Paul Dhaliwal and 23-year-old Kulbir Dhaliwal.

Geragos, whose past clients include Scott Peterson, Michael Jackson and Winona Ryder, told The Associated Press the two brothers tried to get help for their friend -- Carlos Sousa -- after futile attempts to stop the 350-poind Siberian tiger from attacking Sousa.

Geragos claimed the two were denied help for at least 30 minutes by zoo security who did not take their claims seriously.

According to Geragos, the tiger initially attacked Sousa and Paul Dhaliwal at about 4:30 p.m. after escaping from its cage.

While Sousa was seriously hurt, Paul Dhaliwal escaped, and he and his brother ran 300 yards to a zoo cafe where they had eaten earlier.

Geragos said the brothers were "denied entry" to the cafe because the zoo was closing. At that point the brothers lost sight of the tiger.

The brothers then spotted a female security guard who appeared "diffident" when told of the escaped tiger, Geragos said.

"That security guard there was disinterested in doing anything," Geragos said. "It was just absurd."

"Who knows what would have happened if the guard had acted earlier?" Geragos said. "But Carlos would have stood a better chance of not dying. And maybe the police would not have shot the tiger as well."

While the boys were trying to get help, Geragos said the tiger appeared at the cafe and began mauling Kulbir Dhaliwal before police officers arrived and shot and killed it.

Zoo spokesman Sam Singer called Geragos' claims "unreliable."

"It's impossible to comment on his claims because the police department hasn't concluded its investigation yet," Singer said.



According to police dispatch logs from the day of the attack, someone inside the cafe called 911 at 5:07 p.m. It is still unclear when the brothers tried to notify people in the cafe about the attack.

The dispatch logs also show that zoo employees initially questioned whether early reports of the attack were coming from a mentally unstable person.

By 5:10 p.m. zoo employees reported that a tiger was loose and by 5:13 p.m., the zoo was being evacuated and locked down.

For several minutes, the medics refused to enter the zoo until it had been secured. Meanwhile, zoo keepers were trying to round up what they initially believed to be multiple tigers on the loose and hit them with tranquilizers.

"Zoo personnel have the tiger in sight and are dealing with it," reads a 5:17 p.m. note on the transcript.

The transcript does not indicate when police or emergency responders entered, but by 5:20 p.m. medics had located one victim with a large puncture hole to his neck. The tiger was still loose.

As medics attended to the victim, an officer spotted the tiger sitting down before it fled and began attacking another victim, according to the logs.

At 5:27 p.m., less than 20 minutes after the initial reports were made, the officers began firing, killing the 350-pound Siberian tiger.

It has become increasingly clear that the tiger climbed over the wall of its enclosure, which at just under 12 ½ high was about 4 feet below the recommended minimum for U.S. zoos.

On Wednesday, the director of the San Francisco Zoo said something provoked the Christmas Day tiger attack that left one teenager dead, but he said because of the ongoing police investigation he couldn't elaborate.

Zoo director Manuel Mollinedo made his remarks at the facility Wednesday while he outlined to reporters what safety enhancements were being made at the zoo.

It had been previously reported that slingshots were found among men's possessions following the attack, fueling speculation that the weapons were used to antagonize the tiger. However, SFPD spokesman Steve Mennina says police did not find any slingshots at the scene of the tiger attack. 

The zoo was scheduled to reopen Thursday. The big cat exhibit will remain closed.

(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)