Austin Foust, of Burnett Station Road, is in stable condition at the University of Tennessee Medical Center, hospital staff said.
Blount County Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to the 500 block of Burnett Station Road at 4:31 p.m. Monday to a report that a dog had mauled and injured a child.
The man who called authorities, Anthony D. Reed, said he heard screams outside and looked to see a dog in the grass biting and attacking Austin. The dog was a mixed breed, part terrier and pit bull, the report said.
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| A 7-year-old boy is recovering at University of Tennessee Medical Center after being attacked by his mother’s cousin’s pit bull at this residence in the 500 block of Burnett Station Road in Seymour Monday afternoon. |
Reed said he ran to help Austin, and struck the dog in the face. Reed said he then used a choke hold around the dog’s neck until the animal released Austin.
Seymour firefighters arrived and said Austin was bitten on his face and both ears, cutting off most of the left ear. The child’s arm might also have been broken, the report said. The torn ear was put on ice and taken to the hospital for surgery.
Jessica Foust, Austin’s mother, said he was doing fine Tuesday as he lay in his hospital bed, watching the movie “Frozen” and eating Popsicles. Despite his calm nature, she said it would be a long, emotional process for her son.
Implanted ear
“He will be OK,” Foust told The Daily Times. “They implanted his ear in his arm to save it, and they will go back in and put it back on in a couple of weeks, and repair the damaged tissue and vessels in there. He will have anything from two to four surgeries for him to make a full recovery.”
The dog’s owner, Geoffrey Franklin Reed, 22, Burnett Station Road, who is a cousin of the victim’s mother, signed an agreement to have the dog put to death. A Blount County Animal Control officer removed the dog from the scene.
The attack happened in Foust’s yard near a gravel driveway separating Foust’s home from Geoffrey Reed’s residence. Anthony Reed also lives at the same residence as Geoffrey Reed, the report said.
Geoffrey Reed declined to comment on the incident when contacted.
Frank Enter, Austin’s great-grandfather, said the boy will be in recovery for some time. “He’s in the hospital,” he said. “He’s got a long road ahead of him.”
Family baffled
Foust said the dog was never a threat, and was baffled as to why it attacked Austin.
“(The dog) was a big baby,” she said. “He stays inside and if he is outside, he is on a chain that even a horse can’t break. He managed to break the chain somehow. I just checked on (Austin), and (the incident) happened in a matter of two minutes.
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Story of the Scorpion and the frog:
One day a scorpion asks a frog to carry him across the river. The frog, afraid of
being stung during the trip declines helping the scorpion. The scorpion argues
that if it stung the frog, both would sink and he would also drown, so for his
benefit he would never sting him. The frog eventually agrees and carries the
scorpion across the river until midway, the scorpion does indeed sting the frog,
dooming them both to drown.
As they slowly sink into the water asks why he had stung him, crying out,
"Now we shall both die!". The scorpion simply points out that,
“I had no choice; it's in my nature“.
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“I think something triggered him,” Foust added. “Who knows what it was, who it was or what noise it was, nobody knows.”
Foust said she did not know when Austin would be released from the hospital. “They may transfer him to Children’s (Hospital),” she said. “It’s a long process and he’s on a day-to-day basis. He will be here for a few days.”
(Maryville Daily Times - July 29, 2014)
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