South Carolina: Mom of Dog Mauling Victim: 'It Was a Freak Accident'

COLUMBIA, SC -- A two-year-old Sumter boy is continuing to recover after he was mauled by a 70-pound pit bull.

The incident took place Sunday night on Caroll Drive in Sumter.

The boy reportedly rode his tricycle into the yard where the dog was chained up, and suffered head trauma when the animal attacked.

Tuesday, News19 spoke to his mother, April Sumrall, about the condition of her son, George.

"This is the worst thing that could happen to anybody, especially a mother," she said.

April says her son is in stable condition, but needs serious cosmetic surgery.

"You can't even imagine, you can't even imagine unless you have a child of your own," she said.

April says Sunday night she was on her way back from the store, and her husband was working on the roof. They say their son was watching cartoons, when he just disappeared.

"His daddy had come down, he was looking around and I asked him what he was looking for and he said he didn't see George," she said. "So we started looking and it was less than a few seconds."

She says George rode his tricycle through the neighbor's fence when the neighbor's pit bull snatched him off it. During the attack the child lost both of his ears.

"They were gone, the police couldn't find them [the ears], nobody could find the ears, that must mean the dog must have ate them because they could not be found," she said. "[Pointing to the back of his head] From here to all the way back to here is gone, so the dog must have ate [sic] that too cause that couldn't be found."

A tube has been place in George's body to give him hearing in one ear.

She said reports that the child was left unattended are not true.

"I say they need to get the facts straight, because he was not left unattended, at all," she said. "He was not unattended. The only time he was left unattended was when he was watching his cartoons and that was in his bedroom."

April said she doesn't blame the neighbors who had the dog for her son's injuries.

"It was an accident, it was nobody's fault," she said. "It was a freak accident. It could have happen to anybody she's [the neighbor] got three kids of her own. It could have happened to one of hers."

Nevertheless, she told News19 that she wants the dog put to sleep. She says as long as she lives, she will never let her son be around another dog.

George will be flown to a burn unit in Cincinnati where he will have reconstruction surgery.

(WLTX - May 24, 2011)

Earlier Story:

• Pit bull Attack Leaves Toddler In Serious Condition