“Oh my God, oh my God,” a voice cried from outside. “Please somebody help me.”
He raced to the front yard and saw a dog attacking a boy.
“I just ran over,” Contrades said. “Even though I was there yelling and screaming the dog was still going after him.”
Waldo carried 8-year-old Jeremiah Cruz toward his yard but the Rottweiler, he said, continued to go after the boy. He grabbed a bicycle and blocked the dog.
“It was the only thing that was there at the time,” he said.
His actions may have saved the Wailua boy, who was seriously injured after the Rottweiler pulled him from his bicycle and attacked him.
He was in surgery Thursday until 10:30 p.m. at Wilcox Memorial Hospital. Cruz suffered lacerations of the left arm and leg, and a punctured elbow requires an extended hospital stay through at least today.
He remains in good, but guarded condition, according to the boy’s grandfather Roger Walraven, of Lawa‘i. Dog bites can cause serious infection and a lengthy healing process.
“Complications can surmount because of infections and what is available to treat them,” Walraven said.
Jeremiah Cruz, who lives on Opaeka‘a Road, was riding his bicycle with friends Matthew Koester, 9, and Beau Bettencourt, 7, when “Sampson,” a 100-pound Rottweiler, got loose outside of his home at Makana Street.
“I was riding past Sampson’s house and I wasn’t really paying attention to him,” Jeremiah recalled from his hospital bed. “He jumped the fence and then the next thing I know, he was right next to my leg. Then he bit my leg and pulled me off my bike. Then he got my arm and I was yelling for help, and the guy came out and scared the dog away.”
Jeremiah thinks the episode lasted about one minute. He was on the road and wound up in the grass with the dog before Contrades, who goes by “Waldo,” came to his rescue.
After fending off the dog and carrying Cruz to safety, Contrades called 911.
While waiting for first responders, Contrades said the boy was bleeding so he wrapped the open leg wound with a towel and tied a shirt around his arm.
“This is the first time that I witnessed something like that happen to a child,” Contrades said. “I was pretty shook up afterward. The main thing is that the boy is OK. That is all that is important.”
“Thank God he came out when he did,” said Laura Walraven, the boy’s mother.
Laura Walraven said the scene was traumatic.
“He was shredded up,” she said. “Rather than screaming, which is what I wanted to do, I just reassured him and told him that he was going to be OK.”
The elbow wound had bone fragments, which had to be cleaned.
The dog tore away fatty tissue from the boy’s leg. Fortunately, there is no damage to arteries, nerves or muscle tissue, she said.
“It was just a miracle,” Laura said. “He was so brave. I am so proud of him. I can’t even imagine that happening to me.”
Laura said Sampson should have been familiar with Jeremiah, who used to bring his own dog Mala to play with Sampson and the owner’s children in their yard. It could be the sight of bicycles, but she said Sampson’s behavior changed after constant fighting with two aggressive male pitbulls next door that recently killed a neighbor’s cat.
Kaua‘i Police Department responded to the call and issued a dangerous dog complaint to the 23-year-old owner who lives in the three-generation household. He could not be reached for comment.
According to Contrades, the owner retrieved his animal after the attack, and then walked over to check on Jeremiah
He told the boy’s step-father about what happened.
Jeremiah recalled the owner said he had “knocked Sampson out.”
Laura said the police told her the dog would be taken to the Humane Society and would be put to sleep.
Trisha Bettencourt, a neighbor, said she saw the dog in the back of a pickup truck being driven away Thursday evening.
The Humane Society staff that delivered the notice on Friday said they do not have possession of the dog.
“I don’t want my grandson to return home until we are assured that the dog is no longer there,” Roger Walraven said.
The two boys who were with Jeremiah said they first hid from the dog and then ran for help. A neighbor lady listened to their story and then drove the two back to the Matthew’s residence.
“The boys were very upset,” said Pastor Wayne Patton, Matthew’s grandfather and pastor of Anahola Baptist Church.
Patton said a pile of material against the fence may have made it possible for Sampson to jump out of the yard.
Matthew Dela Cruz, Jeremiah’s birth father, said it is frustrating this happened after so many people have already expressed concern the dog was dangerous. There have been problems with the dog before, he said.
Corbin Bettencourt, 10, who is Beau’s elder brother, said he was attacked by the dog two weeks ago.
It was Contrades who intervened then as well, blocking the dog’s advances until the boy could escape.
Kaua‘i Humane Society Director Penny Cistaro said the ambiguity of the dog ordinance has been a priority since she took office a few months ago.
The ordinance states that an owner is negligent when they fail to control a dangerous dog. The county can remove a dog once it is determined that it is dangerous, which is after it is “known” to have bitten someone, she said.
“That is my interpretation,” Cistaro said.
On the second bite, the Humane Society can do something, she said, provided the victim of the first bite has already reported the incident.
“The way that it is written is very confusing,” Cistaro said. “We are working with the county attorney’s office to try to refine this and make a little better for us.”
The police respond to dangerous dog calls, Cistaro said. The Humane Society checks and see if the dog is licensed and to consult with the owners about containing the animal.
Cistaro said other states have laws that allow authorities to make a determination if an animal is dangerous before it bites someone. The owner has the right to appeal take the matter to a hearing, she said.
“This dog mauled a child and we know it is dangerous, but now what do we do?” she said.
“Dogs are more dangerous than guns in my opinion,” said Vince Sonoda, Jeremiah’s step-father.
“Guns just sit there until someone does something with them, but a dog has a mind of its own and pet owners need to be more responsible.”
(Garden Island - May 5, 2013)
