"I saw Garrett coming through the yard. He was covered in blood. So I come outside and I said 'Garrett, baby, what have you got into?' He said, 'Help me! Titan has attacked me!' said neighbor Shawnrey Brown.
Officials say nine-year-old Garrett Carrier had walked up to his neighbor's door to tell them their pit bull, Titan, had gotten loose around 6:30 last night when the dog attacked him. Brown says she saw him through a window and called for help.
"I got him up on my porch and laid him down. I wrapped towels around him. I got a wet cloth and I was wiping him off. He just kept saying, 'Please don't let me die! I'm not ready to die!' I said, 'Garrett, baby, you just hold on there. Stay with me. Paramedics is on the way'," said Brown.
Garrett's recovering at UK Hospital. At last check, he was in fair condition. Initially, officials were afraid he'd lose an arm, but they say he's regained some feeling in it today.
"I started calming down a little bit, but it's still devastating to think about it," said Garrett's aunt, Susan.
Neighbors said the attack wasn't much of a surprise.
"I've always been scared of the dog. Always. My son was outside down at their house and it nipped the back of his leg," said Brown.
"I come around the trailer and the dog sort of started barking. It's a big dog on a log chain and that's what scared me. If a dog needs a log chain, you know that dog's got to be strong," said Garrett's aunt.
The pit bull's owner did not want to comment about the attack, but his mother, Della Haggard, did say that Garrett is her great nephew and has played with Titan before. So has her six grand kids.
Haggard said she isn't sure how Titan got loose, but she did say the pit bull has never shown a mean streak. When asked about the incident last year with Brown's son, she claimed the dog was a puppy and it was nothing more than a nip.
Still, neighbors said they don't want any dog like that living near them.
"I was just thinking, 'If they don't get the dog, I'm killing the dog'," said Brown.
Haggard says her son keeps the dog inside, and when he's away from the house is sure to put Titan on the chain.
Deputies said charges of harboring a vicious animal are pending against the owners. The Casey County dog warden took the dog to a shelter in Taylor County to be quarantined.
(WKYT - July 25, 2012)
