Kasii Haith was visiting an Edwardsville Road home with his mother, Kyiesha, and had been playing with the dogs that he had been with many times before. At about 4 p.m., family members said, Kyiesha – who is pregnant with twins – went inside the house briefly to use the bathroom. While she was gone, the dogs attacked the boy.
The dogs' owner, who had moved into the rental house a few weeks earlier, called 911 and Kyiesha rushed to rescue her son. Two men working at the home, owned by William McCullough, also joined in the fight.
But Kasii died at the scene. His 24-year-old mother was badly injured in the struggle, requiring about 20 stitches. She was released Thursday evening from Kent General Hospital, family members said.
The dogs – identified as pit bulls by police and animal control officers – were removed from the site and euthanized.
Tests by the state Division of Public Health revealed no rabies virus in any of the animals, division spokeswoman Emily Knearl reported Friday.
One puppy – believed to be the offspring of one of the three dogs – remained at the property after animal control and emergency officials left Wednesday, according to Capt. Sherri Warburton, director of animal control for Delaware Animal Care and Control.
"The threat there is gone," Warburton said.
Warburton said investigators from her office and Delaware State Police continue to gather information.
The dogs were neither spayed nor neutered, Warburton said. The owner may be cited for licensing violations.
But criminal charges are unlikely, said Master Cpl. Gary Fournier, state police spokesman.
Under Delaware law, felony charges could be filed if the owner "knowingly or recklessly" kept a dog ruled "dangerous" and the dog inflicted fatal or serious wounds to a human.
A dog control panel can determine whether a dog is dangerous, and Delaware's "dangerous animal" definition also includes dogs or other animals that have been trained to fight, used in fights, trained to be vicious, or are known to have a propensity for fighting or unprovoked attacks.
State code says an owner whose dog attacks a person has a good defense if the dog:
• Attacks a trespasser or a person committing a violent crime.
• Was properly restrained and – in some cases – muzzled.
• Was being abused or provoked by the person it attacked.
Warburton said pit bulls should not be considered any more dangerous than any other breed. And she stressed that spaying and neutering helps to quiet the hormones that can make any dog more aggressive.
State lawmakers are considering new "dangerous dog" legislation. But Warburton believes an aggressive spay/neuter program is the way to go.
"Any dog with teeth can bite," she said. "If these dogs had been spayed and neutered, I'm not saying it couldn't happen, but it may have been less likely to happen."
The boy's death was heartbreaking to all, Warburton said, including staff and emergency responders.
It brought out the vicious in others, who have used social media to condemn Kasii's mother and the owner of the dogs for the attack. Many of them believe pit bulls have been unfairly blamed, restricted and in some places banned because of irresponsible or abusive owners, poor supervision, and problems caused by humans.
"Just know that my daughter fought for her son," said Tara Haith Coates, Kyiesha's mother, the day after the attack. "She loved him."
Jeff Borchardt of East Troy, Wisconsin, says he has faced vehement opposition from pit bull defenders since his 14-month-old son, Daxton, was killed in a 15-minute attack last year.
Daxton was in the arms of a babysitter, the dogs' owner, who had just let the dogs back into the house after a "potty break," Borchardt said. The dogs attacked the babysitter to get to Daxton.
Borchardt said he offers support to dog attack victims around the nation and monitors incidents on his website www.daxtonsfriends.com. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stopped collecting breed-specific records about 15 years ago, he said, but he believes pit bulls are responsible for a disproportionate number of fatal attacks.
Bill Johnson, a bar manager in Philadelphia, said his 10-year-old daughter survived a pit-bull attack during a visit to a friend's house in 2012, but was badly injured.
Johnson says he has tracked national news accounts of such attacks since then. By his calculations, there were 32 dog-bite deaths in 2013, 25 by pit bulls. He says Kasii Haith was the 19th person killed by a dog this year, the 13th by pit bulls.
Johnson and Borchardt plan to participate in a candlelight vigil next week in memory of those killed in dog attacks. The event will be 7:30 to 9 p.m. May 17 in Philadelphia's Peoples Plaza, across from Independence Hall.
Kasii Haith's funeral is planned for that day, too, family members said Friday, with Pippin Funeral Home handling the arrangements. Details will be announced next week, they said.
Dog safety tips for kids
•Do not approach an unfamiliar dog.
•Do not run from a dog or scream.
•Remain motionless when approached by an unfamiliar dog.
•If knocked over by a dog, roll into a ball and be still.
•Do not play with a dog unless supervised by an adult.
•Immediately report stray dogs or dogs displaying unusual behavior to an adult.
•Avoid direct eye contact with a dog.
•Do not disturb a dog that is sleeping, eating, or caring for puppies.
•Do not pet a dog without allowing it to see and sniff you first.
•If bitten, immediately report the bite to an adult.
Source: The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(Delaware Online - May 9, 2014)
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