TEXAS -- A 10-year-old Austin girl was mauled by a pit bull this week. It was the third time the animal has drawn blood.
Peter Aills and his daughter Gracyn had just pulled out of their driveway for a bike ride Sunday afternoon, when a neighbor’s dog attacked.
“All the sudden, this blur tears out at Gracyn and I. She screamed,” Aills said.
Aills says the dog latched onto Gracyn’s right leg and tossed its head back and forth as if it was trying to tear her leg off.
"I can't have it stop reeling in my mind; the dog not so much, but her screaming ‘Daddy!’” Aills said.
Aills snapped photos of Gracyn's wounds in Dell Children's Hospital. Doctors had to give her more than 100 stitches.
He says the cheerleader and gymnast is in immense pain and cannot bend her leg.
"She's worried she's never going to walk again,” Aills said. "I call her "Teacup." That's my nickname for her. I can't believe this happened to my little Teacup."
Gracyn is the dog's third victim.
In March of 2009, the dog got out and sunk its teeth in Suzi Stern as she was jogging.
"I was afraid to take a walk or run through the neighborhood for a year,” Stern said
A person who came to Stern's aid was also bitten.
At that time the owner, Verna Cooper, had two pit bulls. That year the dogs were deemed dangerous by the city.
Cooper sent the male to live with her daughter out of state. She had to buy $100,000 insurance to keep the female.
Also required by law, Cooper had to make a special enclosure in her backyard to keep the dog secure.
Still, on Sunday, investigators say the dog was able to get out through an unlocked side door.
Since Gracyn's wounds were so severe, the city seized the dog and euthanized it Wednesday morning.
The victims feel it was too late.
"I was angry. I was absolutely infuriated,” Stern said.
"I don't think they are protecting the good citizens of Austin, Texas and their best interests,” Aills said.
Animal Control Lt. Micheal Parsons, who was also nearly attacked by Cooper's dogs, says he did all that he could.
"We follow those laws and take the action we need to take,” Parsons said.
Under city ordinance, if a dog bites three times it can be removed from the city limits.
A new state law, Lillian's Law, named after a Thorndale woman killed by dogs while mowing her front lawn, allows officers to instantly seize dogs involved in attacks with serious injury. That is how officers were able to remove Cooper's dog after Gracyn was mauled.
Attempts by KENS 5's sister station, KVUE News, to speak with Cooper were unsuccessful.
Lillian’s Law allows officers to charge her with a third degree felony for the attack.
If charged, she could get up to 10 years in jail.
"I tell you, being a father in Texas, no one hurts my baby, and I'm going to make things right about this,” Aills said.
(KVUE - March 17, 2011)
