Iowa: 10-year-old Attacked by Christino Heine's pit bull, which wasn't even allowed in the city limits

IOWA -- The owner of a dog that hospitalized a 10-year-old boy Monday was keeping the animal illegally, according to police.

Ottumwa Police Chief Tom McAndrew states in a press release that the child was bitten several times by a pit bull “which resulted in injuries to his left upper arm and shoulder, left thigh area and his left hand.”

The boy was taken to the emergency room at Ottumwa Regional Health Center and has since been released.

Ottumwa Police have quarantined this pit bull dog which they
say attacked a 10-year-old boy Monday. (Ottumwa Police Dept.)

Police have charged Christino L. Heine, 32, of Ottumwa with three city violations, including keeping a prohibited animal.

Heine was cited at the scene on Fellows Ave. and released.

McAndrew says Heine’s dog “got loose from another child as the child was attempting to place the dog in a crate outside the residence.  The dog then observed the victim and attacked.  A relative of the dog owner heard the victim screaming and pulled the dog from the victim.”

“The attack was totally unprovoked,” says Ottumwa City Attorney Joni Keith.

The boy is now recovering and “in good spirits,” Keith says, but “if he were any smaller, it might have been a different ending.”

Keeping a pit bull or pit bull mix in the city of Ottumwa is illegal.

The City of Ottumwa website says “pit bull terriers and any crossbreed of such animals which have similar characteristics” are prohibited.

The three charges against Heine are simple misdemeanors.

Keith tells KWQC the maximum punishment is a series of fines that could total around $600.

Police now have Heine’s dog quarantined because they say he does not have proof of rabies vaccination.

Heine is scheduled to appear in court on Monday, April 4.

(KWQC - April 1, 2016)