If she had stabbed the dog WHILE IT WAS BITING HER CHILD or trying to bite her, I can defend her. However, they had put the dog into the bathroom where it was now contained and no longer an imminent threat. She then stabbed the dog because she was angry. I have a problem with that. I don't have a problem with the dog being euthanized; that's what needed to be done. But let's not make excuses for what Michelle did.
MARYLAND -- A Severna Park mother stabbed an adopted boxer-bulldog with a steak knife after it attacked her five-year-old son Dec. 9, police wrote in a report released today.
Michelle, who declined to give her last name because of online criticism after the incident, said she grabbed the knife while the dog was biting her son's face and as her husband tried to save him.
The parents punched and kicked the dog to free the boy, she said, and her husband was able to get the dog in the bathroom, where she stabbed the animal twice.
She told the Capital she felt the dog was still a threat at that point.
Police noted in their report that Michelle was "extremely emotional and inconsolable." The police report states officers will not press charges for "what they had done to the dog."
The dog sustained a dislocated hip and other injuries, police wrote in the report. Animal Control took custody of the animal that day and euthanized it.
Police Chief Timothy Altomare said in a statement that he did not think it was appropriate to charge the mother with a crime.
"One of the most basic drives in nature is the mother's need to protect and defend her child," he said. "After seeing the severity of their child's injuries, I felt the provocation presented to the mother mitigated any criminality in her reaction. Being a father, and grandfather, I could not imagine having to hold a child in my arms suffering from the injuries that I saw."
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| Police Chief Timothy Altomare makes excuses |
"In reality, the sequence of events happened very quickly and the mother was extremely distraught," he said. " I am not justifying the act but I feel that her focus needs to be on being by her son's side during his long road to recovery, not dealing with the repercussions of an action taken under extreme duress."
Michelle and her husband received online criticism after the incident for allegedly not watching their son and new pet closely enough, she said. The police report states that the parents were in the same room with the child and dog when the attack occurred less than 10 feet away from them.
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