Zainabou Drame has been put in a medically-induced coma after the two dogs ripped off most of her jaw and tongue as she played with her brother outside their Cincinnati, Ohio home on Wednesday.
The video shows one police officer jumping out of a patrol car before it had come to a stop before running towards the animals with his weapon drawn.
The footage, first shared by WLWT, shows one of the officers standing over the girl as ambulances arrive to assist - before she is carried off on a stretcher.
Zainabou had been playing with her nine-year-old brother outside their house when the dogs latched onto her face and dragged her along the suburban street.
Her horrified brother Moustapha yelled for their mother Tanina Drame, who tried to beat off the dogs with a baseball bat. The pit bulls only let go when shot at by police.
'It started biting on her shorts and pants. It tripped her over and the dogs started chewing all over her face,' Moustapha told WCPO. 'I got scared when I saw it and then I started crying. Then I started calling mom.'
Zainabou was rushed to hospital where she is listed in a serious but stable condition.
WLTX reported she has been placed in an induced coma, with authorities 'cautiously optimistic' she will survive the unprovoked attack.
Police said Zainabou was playing with a group of friends on Aquadale Lane about 6pm Wednesday when the dogs, which lived with their owner in the neighborhood, chased her and attacked.
Upon hearing calls for help, the little girl's mother, who was inside her home, ran to the street with a baseball bat and beat the dogs. The family's dog Cappuccino also ran to the little girl's aid.
It wasn't until police arrived that the pit bulls released the girl. Officers distracted the dogs before shooting them dead.
'It’s really indescribable and something no person should ever have to see and something we’ll never forget,' Cincinnati Police Officer Kyle Strunk said.
'I saw the brown dog, which was the bigger of the two dogs and he had the girl’s head in his mouth. He was slinging it around, thrashing his head back and forth with her in his mouth.'
A day after the attack, police arrested the dogs' owner, 24-year-old Zontae Irby. He is yet to be charged in relation to the dog attack.
However, following a police search of his home, Irby was charged with weapons under disability, drug abuse and drug trafficking. He is also being held on a $75,000 bond.
SPCA of Cincinnati crew seized a third pit bull owned by Irby. Operations Director Mike Retzlaff said dog owners have a responsibility to keep their animals under control.
'The people that are owning them in these cases don't take the proper time with them, training them, just making them good citizens and therefore they're going to be in the headlines,' Retzlaff told FOX19.
Meanwhile little Zainabou's family haven't left her side, faced with the possibility she may never talk normally again.
'The Pit Bulls had my grandbaby by the face and they were dragging her up the street,' Zainabou's grandfather Leslie McElrath told WCPO.
'My dog (Cappuccino) and her momma beat those dogs off my baby. That is how she is still alive.'
Zainabou's father, Abdou Drame, said he could barely recognize his daughter's mauled face.
'When I see her, I cannot handle it because it's so bad. All the face gone,' he said.
Gina Tyus, Zainabou's aunt, described her niece's injuries as 'gruesome'.
'Both the dogs, one on each side, latched onto her face and ripped her jaw almost completely off. It was broken to the point where you could actually pull it away from her face,' Tyus said.
She said doctors had to remove Zainabou's tongue which was barely attached. One of her eyes was sewn shut because the muscle below it was no longer working.
'It is painful to go in (the hospital) to see your six-year-old niece basically fighting for her life,' Tyus said.
'She is lying there - her face is swollen almost beyond recognition. I thank God she is still here.'
(Daily Mail - June 6, 2014)
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