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| Isiah Perez, 7, was resting on Monday after surgery. Doctors were not able to reattach his thumb. |
MILLVILLE, NJ — A 7-year-old Millville boy is recovering from surgery after losing a thumb and a chunk of his arm to a pit bull that lived in the apartment below his. The dog, named Choice, was seized by animal control officer Anthony Cills and is set to be tested for rabies and then euthanized by the Cumberland County SPCA, Cills said Monday morning.
Allison Carder spoke over the telephone on Monday while her fiancee, Alex Delgado, drove her and Isiah home from Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, where he underwent a four-hour surgery on Sunday.
“Isiah, his step-sister, and the boys who live downstairs were all playing outside,” she said. “The boys who live downstairs went inside and my son was right by the door.”
She said the dog then slipped out the downstairs apartment door and past the boys and began to maul her son.
In addition to biting off his right thumb, the dog ravaged Isiah’s left arm.
“He took a big chunk out of his arm near his wrist,” Carder said. He also bit the child’s left triceps, and the resultant injuries required over 100 stitches to close.
The police report said the attack started shortly after 8 p.m.
The Carders live upstairs in one of four units in their building at 319 East Vine St. The woman who owns the dog lives in the unit below — 315.
Carder said she believes the woman’s name is Sharon Quinn because she often receives her mail.
“We don’t really associate with her except to say ‘Hi’ and ‘Bye,’ that’s it,” she said. She believes that the children who live downstairs are the woman’s grandchildren.
After Isiah was bitten, the woman wrapped him in a towel and took him upstairs to Carder.
“I opened the screen door and said, ‘What’s going on?’
My son was freaking out saying a dog had bitten his finger off. I said, Oh my God. I thought I was dreaming. I really started to panic,” Carder said.
She gathered her wits enough to run into the house and dial 911 on her cellular telephone.
She said that members of the Millville Rescue Squad arrived within five minutes and took Isiah to the South Jersey Healthcare-Regional Medical Center, in Vineland.
His injuries were deemed serious enough to warrant a Medevac flight to Philadelphia. Carder accompanied her son and said that the helicopter arrived at CHOP around midnight.
During the ensuing four-hour surgery, doctors were unable to reattach Isiah’s thumb, which an officer said had been found on the building’s porch.
He was given morphine when he arrived at the hospital and his mother said he has been prescribed oxycodone to ease the pain from the attack.
Carder said that she has Medicaid, which should provide for the medical bills and she has also received time off from her job at Main Discount Liquor and Deli, in Vineland, although it will be an unpaid leave.
Animal control officer Cills said the dog had not been registered.
Dog owners in Millville are required to register their dogs each year. He also said that there was no record of shots and immunizations.
Carder had been told by an officer that the dog was not registered.
“I couldn’t believe it. It didn’t have any papers or anything. I am just hoping it doesn’t have any diseases,” she said.
The woman whose dog it was could not be reached for comment on Monday.
Detective Lt. Les Watson said that no charges have yet been filed against the woman. Cills is still investigating the incident.
Isiah’s aunt, Allison’s sister Mehida Carder, said that she was hardly aware of the dog, although it lived beneath them.
“The only time I saw it was when they were walking it out back,” she said.
Allison Carder said that Isiah will just be resting for the time being.
“He’s doing all right, but he is still hurting,” she said. “It is scary. Even though I know they have the dog, I’m afraid to let Isiah go outside.”
(News of Cumberland County - July 11, 2011)
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