Eleven-year-old Serena Mcevoy suffered multiple bite wounds on her head and upper body during the attack, which occurred at around 3 p.m. Tuesday afternoon in the 23000 block of West Road.
“She's really scared right now,” said Serena's mother, Ronni Berg.
Recounting the attack on Thursday, Serena credited Jon Henry, father of her friend Kacie, for saving her life.
Henry, an Army veteran, shot and killed the dog after it attacked Serena and then charged him.
Lake County Animal Care and Control and the Lake County Sheriff's Office have been investigating the attack, but so far have not been able to prove who is the dog's owner, according to Lake County Animal Care and Control Director Bill Davidson.
“Officially, as far as were concerned, we don't have an owner on the dog that did the biting,” Davidson told Lake County News.
Said Berg, “There's no question of whose dog it was, they just can't prove it.”
She said there have been ongoing issues with dogs owned by a woman who lives in the neighborhood.
“We've had problems with those dogs,” she said. “They get out, they roam around and they growl at my children.”
Tuesday was the first day of school in the Middletown Unified School District. Serena and her friend Kacie Henry came home from school and went to get Kacie's dog from the neighbor's home, Jon Henry said.
According to Henry, their dog had gotten out and gone to the home of the woman with the problem dogs. He said the woman has been feeding all of the neighborhood dogs but denying it.
He said the two girls went up to the woman's trailer and knocked, and the pit bull jumped out at Serena.
Henry said Serena backed up and fell down, and the dog bit her head and her back, and eventually got ahold of her left arm. As the dog was attacking Serena, Kacie hit it and yelled at it, trying to get it to stop.
Henry was working on his electric fence when he heard the girls screaming.
He ran into his house, grabbed his brand new shotgun and ran out the door. On the way, he jumped the horse gate, ran through the corral and hurdled a 5-foot wire fence with the gun in his hand.
As he ran into the neighbor's driveway, he saw to his left Serena running toward him. There was “blood everywhere,” and she was holding her left arm. He also saw the dog coming at him.
“It was running toward me at full speed,” said Serena. “It saw Jon and went after him.”
Henry moved to his left and the dog passed him and stopped. Henry said he fired instantly, putting the blast right into the dog's chest. The dog ran another 20 feet before collapsing.
“I grabbed Serena and Kacie and just started running up the road to the house so I could treat her,” said Henry, who is an EMT.
As he was taking the girls back to his home, he said the neighbor came out to try to start arguing with him.
He said Serena's wounds appeared to be superficial but he was concerned the underlying damage could have been extensive. Henry said the girl had puncture wounds in the upper arm, head and back. He tried to control the bleeding, and then called 911 and the girl's parents.
Davidson said the number of puncture wounds Serena suffered illustrated that the dog was repeatedly biting the girl.
South Lake County Fire Protection District paramedics responded. Henry said they packaged up the girl and transported her to St. Helena Hospital Clear Lake. He said Serena said that she was glad that she had been the one attacked and not Kacie.
Serena told Lake County News that she has her arm in a sling but doesn't have any stitches because of the risk of infection, which also is preventing her from returning to school until next Tuesday.
“I only know pit bulls that are nice,” the girl said, adding that she never thought any pit bull would try to attack her.
Davidson said Animal Care and Control Officer Nehemiah White, who is investigating the case, has gotten four different stories about who owned the dog that attacked Serena.
When Animal Care and Control and sheriff's deputies were on the scene Tuesday, Davidson said neighbors pointed them to a house where they believed the dog had been living. It was red tagged and appeared to have been a former marijuana grow house. There appeared to be numerous other grows int the neighborhood as well.
He said they believe that the neighbor in question was a “quasi” owner for less than 30 days.
That same woman was cited on Thursday by White after she was reported to have been walking two of her dogs off leash the previous night.
Davidson said Serena's family can move forward with pursuing a civil matter if they choose.
He said Animal Care and Control doesn't have a history of reports involving dog issues in the neighborhood where the attack took place.
When residents told White that they had a number of problems, he asked if they had reported them and they said no because they didn't think Animal Care and Control would do anything, Davidson said.
“If you don't report it, how are we supposed to do anything about it?” asked Davidson.
In such cases, Davidson said it's important for community members to report problems. “It's not fair to judge us if you don't even give us a chance.”
As to possible health issues involving the dog that attacked Serena, Davidson said the dog's body has been submitted for rabies testing.
(Lakeconews.com - Aug 16 2013)
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