The 20-month old girl had been visiting her aunt on Leete Street when two to three dogs hurt her. She later died at Yale-New Haven Hospital.
The aunt, who spoke briefly to a reporter Saturday morning and didn’t give her name, said family members from the South are coming to the city Monday.
“I just want to say everybody should pray for her and her family because she was my niece,” the woman said Saturday while standing on the porch of her apartment with a few other people.
When asked if the dogs have ever been aggressive before, she shook her head “no.”
Police had few new details to release in the case Saturday.
A source familiar with the case said neighbors have told police the dogs have shown aggression before.
On Friday night, Sgt. Angelo Moscato said that while the child was visiting, the three dogs had been put into another room, but somehow got out and found the child laying on the floor on a blanket in another room.
Moscato said it’s unclear if the child was alone at the time that the dogs attacked and whether two or three of the dogs were involved. But police were told that after the attack, two dogs were seen standing near the child, who was bleeding, Moscato said. Those in the apartment then put the dogs in another room.
Police and paramedics were dispatched around 6:13 p.m. after receiving a call that a child had been bitten by a dog. When they arrived, the child was unconscious, and paramedics immediately transported her to Yale-New Haven Hospital, according to Moscato.
“This is a very tragic incident for that poor child,” Moscato said.
Police officers and an animal control officer brought the dogs out of the home using catch poles, which are metal poles with loops at the ends that can go around dogs’ heads. They are usually used when catching animals, as they can control them better than leashes.
Officers also tased the animals to subdue them, and brought them to the veterinarian’s office to be euthanized, Moscato said.
“We had to use catch poles to catch the dogs. We had three dogs lunging at us. It’s one of the techniques animal control officers use to subdue animals,” Moscato said. “The officers were able to do that without getting injured. They did a professional job in capturing the three aggressive dogs.”
Typically, when a dog bites a person, its owner must decide if it should be quarantined or euthanized.
Because of the severity of this case and “aggression” of the dogs, the three canines were euthanized Friday night, Moscato said. They will be sent to the state police lab for rabies tests, a standard procedure in dog bite cases.
Moscato said an autopsy will be performed on the child and that officers will have a better idea of what happened after results are released.
“Right now, we’ve just got to sort out what happened and who was in the house,” Moscato said.
“Probably no additional information will be released today because we have to wait for a few days for the medical examiner.
Ironically, members of area animal rescue groups had been planning Pit Bull Awareness Day for Oct. 15 even before Friday night’s incident and say the tragedy is an isolated one. The group says it will be releasing more information about the event and a response to Friday’s incident in the next few days.
(New Haven Register - October 2, 2011)
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