MICHIGAN -- A 3-week-old girl was killed by a pit bull Thursday after her mother left her in a car seat on the floor inside a house on Detroit’s west side, police said.
Sgt. Eren Stephens said the newborn’s mother went to a home about 5:45 p.m. in the 7700 block of Stahelin and took the infant inside with her. The mother put the girl, still strapped into the seat, on the floor, not knowing there was a dog loose in the house.
The mother, Stephens said, stepped away from the infant for a moment, but when she returned the pit bull was mauling the girl. The baby was taken to a hospital, but she died of her injuries.
Police did not release the name of the girl or her 24-year-old mother.
The dog was removed from the home Thursday night and taken to an animal control facility.
The investigation has been turned over to the homicide division. Stephens said investigators will submit their reports to prosecutors, who will then decide whether to file any criminal charges.
"It seems like maybe just a tragic accident," Stephens said.
A similar tragedy occurred in Warren in 2007 when 3-month-old Kylie Cox was killed by a Rottweiler. The baby’s mother had set the child down on the floor in a car seat at an acquaintance’s home and had gone to the kitchen to heat up a bottle when the dog attacked the child.
A number of other deadly dog attacks have occurred in recent years in metro Detroit, including:
- In summer 2010, Kyle Holland, 5, of Lincoln Park was killed by a suspected wolf-dog hybrid that attacked the boy in his bed. The dog, owned by the mother’s boyfriend, crushed the boy’s ribs and punctured his lungs.
- In April 2009, Leonard Lovejoy, an 11-month-old Eastpointe boy, was killed when the family’s 5-year-old pit bull attacked him in a bedroom. Leonard’s parents were in the room when the attack occurred.
- In September 2007, a pack of bulldogs attacked and killed a 91-year-old man and a 56-year-old woman in rural Livingston County
