The dog, a 2-year-old male named Gava [referred as Kava in other articles], had been quarantined at the Tri-City Animal Shelter in Fremont before it was put down Tuesday -- just one day after it attacked Nephi Selu at a home on Elizabeth Way where the boy lived with his extended family.
The move came following an agreement between all parties involved including the dog's owner -- a San Mateo police officer who is also the boy's uncle, Union City police Cmdr. Ben Horner said Wednesday.
"It was a mutual decision between the family and everyone," Horner said.
So far, he said, no charges are pending in the case. Police continue to interview witnesses and family members while they wait for a coroner's report on the boy's death.
As of Wednesday morning an autopsy had not taken place, so the boy's cause of death was not officially determined, according to a for the Santa Clara Coroner's Office spokeswoman.
A preliminary investigation revealed Nehpi was playing in the backyard of his grandparents' home in the 32400 block of Elizabeth Way just after 11:30 a.m. when the dog bit him on top of his head. The boy, Horner said, may have tried to climb onto the dog's back in an attempt to ride it like a horse before being bitten.
The dog's owner, a San Mateo police officer, pulled the animal off the child, who was his nephew, according to attorney Michael Rains.
Speaking for the family, Rains said he was told by family members that the boy was talking, conscious and lucid after the attack and that the owner of the dog assumed he only needed a few stitches and went to work.
Alameda County fire officials confirmed the boy was alive when he was taken by ambulance to Lucile Packard Children's Hospital in Palo Alto.
He was pronounced dead at the hospital shortly after 4 p.m., police said.
So far police have deemed the attack a "tragic accident."
Rains said he went to the Union City home Tuesday because the owner of the dog is a police officer represented by the San Mateo police union -- a client of Rains' firm -- but that the firm had not been retained by the family.
"This is not a case of criminal liability. It's just a terrible accident. This is just the nicest family, great kids."
The owner of the dog has seven children of his own, and the boy who died and his mother also live in the home where the attack occurred, Rains said.
Before the dog was put down Tuesday, it was then taken to the Fremont shelter to be held for a standard 10-day quarantine, Horner said. The dog had up-to-date rabies shots and licensing requirements, he said.
Rains said all the children "rough house" and played with the dog regularly. "This dog has never even barked at these kids, never showed any aggressive (behavior)," he said. "You can't figure out what happened. He was just playing with him and the next thing that happened is the dog bit the child."
Neighbors who have seen the dog out and about said it was always on a leash and gave no hints that it might be vicious.
"It was an accident. It's such a shame," 41-year-old Arthur Kouns, said Tuesday as he stood on his front walkway and looked at the family's home. "The dogs always appeared very friendly, always wagging their tails."
(Mercury News - June 19, 2013)
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