The girl's aunt, Samantha Dacey, 22, of Lawrence said police told her the child's mother does not want to press charges and that "their hands are tied."
"The city should be pressing charges," Dacey said yesterday. "You can't have dogs biting people. It's just not right."
Yesterday, the only explanation Deputy Police Chief Donald Thompson would provide as to why charges are not being brought against the dog's owner at this time was that the dog was properly licensed and had been vaccinated. He said the dog was destroyed.
Police had previously identified the dog's owner as Elizabeth Kakides of 2 Jackson St.
Samantha Dacey said destroying the dog brings her little satisfaction. She wants something more to be done.
Last week, Bianca's grandfather, Tim Dacey of Haverhill, said the girl and her mother, Katelyn Zangari of Haverhill, were visiting friends last Wednesday afternoon at 2 Jackson St., the home of the adult pit bull, when it bit her face.
The girl required extensive surgery and more than 50 stitches because of the bite, family members said. She was released from the hospital last Thursday morning.
Her mother said doctors told her they will have to wait until Bianca heals to determine whether she will need other treatment, such as plastic surgery to improve the appearance of the scars.
Following the attack, police removed the dog and Kakides signed papers with the city's animal control officer giving permission for the dog to be destroyed. She said the MSPCA told her the dog would be humanely put down and that although it broke her heart, she said "it had to be done."
The little girl's grandfather says this pit bull has attacked several other people prior to the attack on his granddaughter.
Katelyn Zangari said her daughter had played near the dog named Duchess several times in the past, never with a problem. She said another person who was in the room with them at the time apparently stepped on the pit bull's tail. The dog then turned in the direction of Bianca and bit her face, Zangari said.
Zangari said people at the home took Bianca to Merrimack Valley Hospital. She was then taken by ambulance to Anna Jaques Hospital in Newburyport, where a surgeon stitched up the inside and outside of her face.
Kakides said the dog was actually owned by her former husband, who recently had gone to jail, and that she was caring for the dog.
Zangari said last week that she did not want to cause problems for Kakides and that she did not hold her responsible for the attack.
Samantha Dacey said she would have acted differently if her daughter had been the victim of the bite.
"If a dog ever bit my children, I would want to pursue the owner regardless if they were friends or not," she said.
(Eagle Tribune - June 4, 2009)
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