According to a York County Sheriff's Office report, deputies were called to a home along the 2000 block of Ridgecrest Road in Rock Hill on Wednesday evening around 6:49 p.m.
Deputies say Kenneth Allen, 11, had gone to his neighbor's home to borrow a blender. As he entered the neighbor's yard, the woman's two-year-old pit bull, Dallas, broke the clamp of the cable he was attached too and lunged at Kenneth.
The young boy was attacked and suffered severe injuries to his right hand and arm. According to the report, "a large section of scalp was torn from the back of his head."
"When he was pulling me, it felt like there were five million hooks and it was pulling my skin off," Kenneth told WBTV from his hospital room, just hours before he was set to under surgery.
He said the dog just popped out of the woods and attacked him. He managed to fight the dog off and run home, bloodied and bruised.
"It's one of the most terrifying things a father could ever see," Ken Allen, Kenneth Allen's father said.
"I'm looking you know and he kept running, scared of the dog obviously and when he passed me, I saw the back and I just dropped out, I've never seen something like that before."
Kenneth was transported by emergency crews to the Bethesda No. 2 fire station, where he was airlifted to Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte. He was listed in "Good" condition as of Thursday night.
Deputies say the initial attack appeared to have started in the driveway and deputies found a four-inch square of Kenneth's scalp in the yard nearby. They gave it to emergency crews in case it could be reattached, the report states.
Deputies noted in the report that when they arrived at the home, the pit bull lunged at them and it "took some time to get it under control."
AJ Smith, the dog owner, told deputies that the dog normally stayed inside the home, but that he had left it outside because the weather was nice.
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| One of the owners, AJ Smith, says he's been breeding pit bulls for 13 years. |
"I was so sorry to hear about what happened. And if I would have been home, I probably would have put the dog down too," Smith said. "I broke down in tears and started crying, told Kenny's dad 'I'm so sorry'."
The pit bull was signed over to Animal Control, the report states.
Smith's girlfriend, who also owned the dog, was issued a citation for violation of the county Animal Control Ordinance.
Steve Stuber with Animal Control told WBTV that the pit bull was euthanized on Thursday morning due to the vicious nature of the attack.
The animal's body was sent to Columbia to be tested for rabies.
Kenny's family says their not harboring any hard feelings against the dog's owner, instead, the family is focused on his lengthy recovery.
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| How does someone who's bred pit bulls for 13 years not know that this tiny plastic coated tether is nowhere near strong enough to hold a frenzied pit bull?! |
"It's stressful to figure out how I'm going to take care of this, but we just let it be in God's hand," Kenny Sr said. "That's all we can do."
From his hospital bed, little Kenny smiled.
"God will help me now. I'm okay.
Rev. William Craig Ray, the pastor of Faith Family Christian Center in Rock Hill is asking for donations to help the family with medical costs. He can be reached at 803-366-5239.
(WBTV - June 1, 2012)
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