NEW YORK — A pit bull is being held by the SPCA of Niagara after it bit and severely injured a 10-year-old boy Tuesday afternoon on Allen Street.
Blake Gandy was rushed into surgery at Women & Children’s Hospital on Tuesday evening so doctors could repair his face, which the dog “ripped wide open,” his mom Jillian Bartholomew said.
Blake was back home Wednesday afternoon, with many stitches, heavy-duty pain medication and a doctor’s order to avoid all contact sports for 4 to 6 weeks, she said. Channel 2 News reported the youth received 35 stitches.
Blake was bitten by the pit bull, a 2-year-old male named “Trouble,” when he entered 19 Allen St. while selling candy bars door-to-door for the LOYAL youth football program.
The pit bull attacked Blake at the entry to the Allen Street residence; it jumped on Blake, locked its jaws onto his face and tried to drag him, Jillian said.
Police and firefighters were called to 198 Lock St., Bartholomew’s residence, about 3 p.m. Tuesday. Jillian was at home when her son was attacked about a block away, and was unaware anything had happened until she heard a woman screaming out her name. When she looked outside, she saw an acquaintance running toward her with a bloodied, screaming Blake in tow, she said.
The acquaintance is the dog’s owner and, Jillian said she thought, a family friend. Blake and the dog owner’s son are related through their fathers, while the women have been close. Why the dog owner brought Blake home, instead of trying to stanch his bleeding where the attack occurred, is a mystery to Jillian. There’s a trail of blood between 19 Allen and 198 Lock, she said.
“I don’t know what to think right now. I’m just so angry,” Jillian said. “Somebody is going to pay for this.”
Also upsetting to Jillian is the fact the city’s animal control officer, Joanie Black, didn’t seize the dog until Wednesday morning. Black did not return a call requesting information about the attack and her response.
According to police, the attack remained under investigation Wednesday. Officers were still trying to sort out what charges should be placed against the dog owner, once they determine who the legally responsible owner is.
A police source said the dog currently is kept by the Allen Street woman, whom police believe acquired it only recently from a Town of Lockport resident. The original owner had the dog licensed in the town, and vaccinated for rabies last year, but both the dog license and the rabies certificate are expired, police said.
Police would not furnish the names of the new or original dog owner Wednesday pending a determination who’s to be held liable.
A rabies certificate shown to police indicated Trouble was vaccinated in May 2010. If that was the dog’s first and only vaccination, it needed to be repeated after one year, according to SPCA Director John Faso.
The agency is holding Trouble for 10 days, long enough for the health department to rule out the possibility the dog has rabies. So far, there is no evidence suggesting it does, police said.
If charges are placed against Trouble’s owner(s), they’ll be heard in Lockport City Court. A “dangerous dog” hearing likely will be held as well, putting Trouble’s fate in the hands of a judge.
Faso, the SPCA director, was reluctant to characterize Trouble’s temperament Wednesday. It’s too soon to tell, he said.
“The dog certainly is not happy to be here. I wouldn’t consider him friendly; it took a couple people to bring him in,” he said, “but I guess, to be fair to Trouble, dogs ... out of their element sometimes are scared and nervous. (Were SPCA evaluating Trouble), we’d wait at least four days, long enough for him to get used to his surroundings” before judging him.
(Niagara Gazette - August 17, 2011)
