Father: Son Recovering, But Traumatized After Dog Attack

FLORIDA -- A young boy is recovering after being attacked by a dog while he was walking down the street with his mother Thursday.

Leon Montiel, 8, is recovering at Holtz Children’s Hospital at Jackson Memorial Hospital Friday.

The boy’s father, Oscar Montiel, spoke exclusively with CBS4’s Gaby Fleischman. He said his son suffered several severe bites to his leg and arm. He also said that he got several stitches and is on antibiotics so that the wounds don’t get infected.

“He’s eating today, smiling, making little moves, there’s discomfort but we haven’t allowed him to see what happened to his thigh, it’s severe,” Oscar Montiel said.


He said while he’s expected to be okay physically, his son and wife are traumatized by Thursday’s incident.

An 6-year-old American Bulldog, named Rudy, somehow got out of a house, about half a block from the family’s home, and reportedly went after the Leon Montiel while he was walking with his mom at 3820 NW 12th Street.

 

 

 

  

 

Surveillance video from a neighbor showed a mother and son walking then suddenly, right in the middle of the screen, the dog appears. Before the attack, the boy appears to be bouncing a ball.

Witnesses said Thursday it appeared the dog was going after the ball.

It took several people to pry the dog’s jaws open and off the child.

“You can see the dog had a firm grip on the kid and it was just like wrestling with the kid. The kid was going side to side.  They were trying to get him off, but he wouldn’t lose grip,” said witness Jocelyn Hernandez.

This is allegedly not the first time the dog has attacked.  Just last week, the owner’s grandson, Carlos Cabrera, told CBS4 the dog bit a man who came to the door.

CBS4’s Lauren Pastrana spoke to Jesus Torres, the alleged victim in that instance.

“I went to the door to pick her up because she wasn’t answering the phone,” Torres said in a phone interview. “When I turned my back, the dog got out and grabbed on to my neck forcefully.”

 

Torres provided CBS4 News with multiple pictures of his injuries from the attack he said occurred on March 30th.

In the photos, you can see Torres with multiple cuts on his face and arm. He said he required multiple stitches.

 

“It’s irresponsible on the part of the owners,” he said after learning of the attack on Leon Montiel.
Oscar Montiel said he’s angry that after Torres’s alleged incident, the dog wasn’t removed from the home.

After seeing photos of the alleged attack, he said he does feel lucky that neighbors stepped in to help his son.

“He would have killed my son, he would have killed my son. I’m surprised that the authorities are doing nothing about it, just cited the owner of the dog,” Montiel said Friday.

Miami-Dade Animal Services issued a statement Thursday which read in part, “The department has not received any report involving a bite from this dog other than today’s occurrence. The Department has initiated a dangerous dog investigation and is currently in the process of gathering information regarding the circumstance of the bite.”

Animal Services also said the dog has been licensed and vaccinated annually, as required by law for the past six years.

(CBS Local - April 10, 2015)