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Saturday, July 5, 2008


Pit Bull Owner Charged in the Staten Island Mauling

Manslaughter Charges Filed
UPDATE 10/01/08: Prosecutors have upgraded charges against the owners of two pit bulls that mauled a 90-year-old Staten Island man who later died. Dog owners, James McNair and Kim DiPrima, were indicted on charges of manslaughter, assault and failing to keep the dogs restrained.

07/05/08: James McNair, 28, Charged
Staten Island, NY - After two pit bulls brutally attacked an elderly man, a spokesman for the Staten Island district attorney’s office, William J. Smith, said the dog owner is facing multiple charges. James McNair, 28, faces second-degree assault charges in addition to an earlier charge of having unleashed dogs without collars or tags.

The victim, Henry S. Piotrowski, 90, was attacked on July 1st about 11 a.m. in his backyard on John Street, which is adjacent to Mr. McNair’s backyard in the Elm Park neighborhood. It was not until a neighbor, Reginald Bell, ran at the dogs with a butcher knife that they stopped. It is reported that Piotrowski suffered not only one amputation, but three. He remains in critical condition.

Mr. McNair is a registered sex offender. He was released from state prison in 2004 after serving a sentence for third-degree rape. Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly called the attack on Mr. Piotrowski "a horrendous situation." Then he said what many law enforcement officers have known for twenty years: "In some areas [the dogs] are being used as weapons."
Twenty years and counting; hardly a new phenomenon.
Law enforcement officials, animal control officers, animal rights groups and legislators have known since the mid 1980's that pit bulls and criminals have been inextricably linked and that pit bulls were being used as weapons then and continue to be today. The 1987 Sports Illustrated cover article, "The Pit Bull, Friend or Killer?" by EM Swift spells it out clearly.
"San Diego investigators also were told that local members of motorcycle gangs were stashing their drugs beneath the doghouses of their pit bulls. ''Street dope dealers and street gangs have gone to pit bulls,'' says Budd Johnson, an inspector for the U.S. Marshals Service who is based in San Diego. Law enforcement officials are seeing the same thing all over the country, and the pit bull populations in urban areas have mushroomed as a result. There have also been instances when pit bulls were used in armed robberies, in effect taking the place of a weapon, and one case in which a 16-year-old girl was raped by a man who allegedly threatened her with his two pit bulls.''
Related articles:
07/03/08: Coverage of the Henry Piotrowski Pit Bull Mauling
12/08/07: Turning Pit Bulls into Personal Weapons
07/27/87: The Pit Bull, Friend or Killer?

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posted by bitbypit  |  permalink  |  3 comments  |iconemail  |iconsubscribe 
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3 comments:

Anonymous Anonymous  |  7/05/2008 8:13 AM  |  Flag  
I simply don't understand why any politician in New York is afraid to spay and neuter this dog out of the state. Imagine what their animal control is like in NYC you have people turning pits in and other thugs picking one up. What New York should do is ban all fighting dogs. There is a class of fighting dogs Presa Canario, Tosa, Doggo Argentina Am. Pit Bull Terrier also Am. Staffordshire Terrier (same dog different name)and others that should be just out right banned in the U.S. Bully dog owners relax the fighters carry special traits your dogs don't. The dog fighter tried the Rottweiler in the fighting pit and he got slaughtered. None of the traits of a fighter. I mean legislators why are we allowing a dog to exist that was created for what is now a felony in all fifty states. New York citizens start yelling.

Anonymous Anonymous  |  7/05/2008 11:00 AM  |  Flag  
Pit bull forum won't touch this story. How can they? They can not spew their typical propaganda on this one.

Their typical line of attack is to first question the breed involved. How can they with video footage of cops carrying two pit bulls from the house. Next they would shout the typical crap "All dogs bite!!". Yes all breeds of dogs do bite, but only pit bulls strip the meat off of bones.

Pit Bull Talk has posted this story. Here is one of their comments:

"Personally, I am FAR more concerned about the poor man who was mauled and the fact that Peter Vallone is using that tragedy to further his own agenda and attempting to enact BSL less than an hour from my home."

Anonymous David  |  7/05/2008 9:58 PM  |  Flag  
It is not just Peter Valone's agenda, but it is mine along with several hundred that have already signed our petition in Wabash, IN , a town of 12,000.

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