Ashton Phillips, 8, has multiple puncture wounds near his eye and arm from the reported incident.
"The dog thought I was going to attack him, so it came after me and got my eye and yanked my arm," Ashton said.
The alleged incident happened Monday evening, when Ashton went to a neighbor's house to play with another child. The boys like to play war games and play with toy guns. Ashton said he had to use his toy gun to hit the dog during the attack.
"Just hit the tar out of it," he said.
"Honestly I thought he had lost his eye because there was so much blood," said Danielle Phillips, Ashton's mother. "He has eight puncture wounds in his arm that go down to the muscle."
Danielle Phillips said this isn't the first time the pit bull has attacked someone. She said prior to this attack, the dog attacked her other son.
"He got my 4-year-old two weeks ago, got more shirt than anything, just left a bruise," said Phillips.
She did not report the attack because she figured the 10-1/2 month-old [dog] was just playing. The dog's owners said they have never known their pit bull to be vicious.
"He's very gentle and not very temperamental at all," said Daniel DeSalvo.
DeSalvo's girlfriend said the dog doesn't even like to be outside.
"He was only outside because that big storm was coming and I didn't want him having an accident in the house," said Bobbie Fronek.
 |
| "He's very gentle" say the owners of the dog that bit "down to the muscle" of the boy's arm |
Fronek said her son and Ashton had been playing with toy guns and other war games for several weekends. She thinks the screaming triggered the attack.
"I think it was strictly like self defense," said Fronek. "One child was playing with the other child, guns and war, and I think he was just protecting the kid."
The dog owners received three citations from the Mahoning County Dog Warden: Failure to have the proper insurance on the pit bull, not having a dog tag and not having the dog confined.
Danielle Phillips has hired an attorney, and is taking the issue to court. She wants to see the dog put down.
"If it will attack somebody, you know, as a young puppy, I can't imagine what that dog would do, you know, full grown," she said.
Fronek and DeSalvo don't want to put their dog down. They said it's like another child to them.
"I mean If I've got to put him in a fenced in cage for him to go outside just to go pee, then I'll do it," said Fronek.
The issue is set to go before a judge next week.
(WYTV - May 10, 2012)
