The attack happened around 4:23 p.m. Tuesday as the victim and his two brothers were walking home from the school bus stop, Bartlesville Police Department Capt. Jay Hastings said.
"The attack was in the area of Cheyenne and Lupa," Hastings said. "The boys were walking home when they saw a dog in a residence’s back yard that they thought looked like a dog they used to own."
It's believed that the location of the attack is 325 West Cheyenne Place, Bartlesville, Oklahoma, based on Stacey Moreno's online listed addresses.
Crystal Fugate said her son, Malachi, and his twin brother got off the school bus Tuesday and went into a neighbor’s backyard. She said they wanted to pet a dog there, which was chained up behind the house to a light pole.
”He thought the dog was going to lick him in the face, and it bit him in the face,” Crystal Fugate said. “Then, while he was on the ground, it bit him on his arm.”
Fugate said a neighbor ran her son back home after hearing him screaming.
"Officers were dispatched to the area in reference to a dog bite and a child with a severe injury," he said. "The ambulance and fire department were also dispatched because of the age of the child and the severity of the bite."
Hastings said the dog could not initially be found but officers eventually located it, along with a shoe that belonged to the victim, in the back yard of a house on West Cheyenne Place.
"Officers went to the residence and located the dog, which is a two-year-old brown and white pit bull," he said. "The dog was secured in the back yard by a cable attached to a tree."
Hastings said the owner of the dog, Stacey Moreno, "apparently lives at another address."
Why is she keeping her Pit Bull at one location and living at another? AND had an open arrest warrant on file for her...
According to Hastings, the dog showed aggression toward officers investigating the incident.
"While officers were taking pictures the dog, it instantly became aggressive and ran to the end the rope it was on," he said.
The boy was described as having "several lacerations around his right eye" and a bite mark to his arm.
"His eyes were blackened and he had a puncture wound to his right forearm," Hastings said.
Hastings said the boy was taken to the hospital by ambulance and treated for the injuries, while Moreno was issued several citations and arrested on an unrelated warrant.
"Police issued the owner three citations: no city license, no rabies tag, and owner shall confine all vicious animals," Hastings said. "The dog was also ordered quarantined for ten days."
The attack comes on the heels of a City Council meeting Monday during which several citizens belonging to the group Pawsitively Pits advocated that a WCSPCA ban on pit bull adoptions be dropped. The group contends that the ban is illegal and prohibited by state law.
WCSPCA officials countered, saying that the policy was put in place for several reasons, and noting that the organization is held liable for the pets after they’ve been adopted.
Several attacks by the breed have been reported in Bartlesville over a number of years, including one that left 4-year-old Cody Adair dead in 2005.
"What’s frustrating for me is that we’ve been here before," BPD Chief Tom Holland said after Tuesday’s attack. "Maybe someone out there can tell me the solution."
(Examiner Enterprise - April 8, 2015)
Earlier:
Bartlesville Police Department, July 25, 2014
The following people were arrested in Washington County, according to Washington County Detention Center records:
Stacey Machelle Moreno, 43, on charges of service of failure to appear warrant
Anything that is a danger to children, in most States, is considered an attractive nuisance and needs to be fenced in or made inaccessible to children. A swimming pool is a perfect example. A Pit Bull, a clear danger to kids, should have been fenced in so as kids could not get to him
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