LOUISIANA -- A pit bull mix dog that seriously injured a DeSoto Parish girl last month has been euthanized after being declared as vicious.
The dog’s owner, Latoya Gardner, of Frierson, agreed to surrender the dog Thursday following a court hearing. DeSoto Animal Control put down the dog immediately afterward.
Parish officials took Gardner to court because of the severity of the girl’s injury. It’s not a common practice.
“It is unusual … but this one got so serious we felt like we needed to go to (District Attorney) Gary (Evans) and let him handle it,” parish Administrator Steve Brown said.
The 10-year-old child was injured on April 10 as she was visiting a friend who lives on the same property as the dog owner. The dog attacked the child when it was released from a chain, according to the child's mother, Chassidy Sutton.
The girl received deep lacerations to the right elbow, multiple puncture wounds, scratches and bruising throughout her torso, according to court documents. She was transported to a Shreveport hospital emergency room.
The treating physician called the injury “a serious attack by a dangerous animal."
"I fear that the next child this dog attacks may not be as fortunate,” the doctor says in an email included in the court record.
Chassidy Sutton says her daughter is still not healed and is scarred physically and mentally. She has undergone physical therapy since the bite and struggles with pain and extending her arm.
"The owners did not want to put the dog down and that is the main reason we rattled the cages that we did and it went to court," she told KTBS.
Garner, owner of the Pit Bull named Tucker, disputes that her dog was chained prior to the attack. She said Tucker was a beloved family pet who slept inside.
LATOYA GARDNER BLAMING THE VICTIM
She said Tucker was already loose when he charged the girl, whom she claims was uninvited on her property that's adjacent to where the girl was visiting.
Chassidy Sutton disagrees and said her daughter was outside of her friend's house playing with the friend and her sister when the dog ran to them and attacked.
Garner suspects the 2-year-old dog was being protective of another young puppy in the yard.
"I hate that it happened," said Garner, who became emotional about what took place and the loss of her dog. "I did everything they told me to do but they still killed him."
Tucker had never bit anyone before, she said. He was in quarantine at a veterinarian's office for 10 days before being seized by DeSoto Parish Animal Control, where he was held until the court hearing.
Garner said she wrapped the child's arm with a towel after the attack and sat with the family at the hospital.
Taking a dog owner to court is not something the parish likes to do, but there have been an increasing number of bite cases, Brown said.
“We’ve had more than we like. We’ve had a rash of them. In every case it’s been a pit bull or pit bull mix. This year, we had a chow bite, too,” he said.
State law authorizes the district attorney, sheriff or animal control officer to file a court petition to determine if the dog that causes bodily harm should be euthanized.
“This was an extreme injury. It was really bad but it could have been really, really, really bad,” Brown said.
Dogs that bite cannot be adopted out, said animal control officer Harold Renfro. “Fortunately, we don’t have many of this magnitude.”
Brown said Garner agreed to surrender the pit bull because she was interested in keeping her rights to her other dog.
Gary Sutton, the child's father, said his daughter, who still has nightmares and endures pain from the injury, is the reason Garner was able to keep the other puppy. He said she wanted it to have a place to live regardless of what happened.
"I was amazed on a daily basis with things like these from her. This is the positive side of this story. The unabridged truth. I never been more proud to be her father," Gary Sutton said.
(KTBS - May 23, 2016)
