Autopsy Results archived
UPDATE 1/20/08: Officials say a 6-week old baby boy in Lexington died of suffocation and blood loss after being attacked by a family dog. Justin Mozer was sleeping in a bedroom Friday when a Jack Russell terrier attacked him. An autopsy was done Saturday on the infant's body. The Fayette County coroner's office says it showed that he died of traumatic asphyxia, or suffocation, and blood loss due to the dog attack. The manner of death is being investigated as accidental.
Though the baby had a crib, it was napping on a king-size bed that afternoon, said the baby's uncle Jeff Mozer. Without any warning, the dog attacked the baby, he said. The boy's father was at work when the attack occurred, Jeff said. Justin Mozer Senior kept a pit bull in the backyard for protection, Jeff explained. Both dogs were taken into custody by Fayette County Animal Control at the owner's request, reports the Herald-Leader. Jeff said the baby's parents are inconsolable.
Jeff Mozer said Justin Mozer had owned the Jack Russell for six or seven years. "The dog has been around my baby and other babies in the family. There has never been any reason for alarm."
Jeff Mozer said his brother bought the family home at Seven Pines Drive, near Versailles Road and Alexandria Drive, about a year ago and was remodeling it.
The former president of The Lane neighborhood association, Pete Hagan, said that in September 2007, the association sent Justin Mozer a letter complaining about the behavior of pit bulls kept in the back yard. The letter, which Hagan e-mailed to the Herald-Leader on Saturday, said pit bulls routinely got out of the yard and frightened neighbors. But Hagan said he had no problems with the Jack Russell terrier, and he had noticed no problems with the pit bulls since November. - Valarie Spears, Lexington Herald-Leader, January 20, 2008
01/19/08: Family Dog Kills Infant
Lexington, KY - A family dog killed a 6-week old baby yesterday. The attack happened at a home on Seven Pines Drive at about 3:50 pm. Witnesses told police that Justin Mozer was sleeping in a bedroom when the family's Jack Russell terrier attacked him. His mother was in the bathroom, bathing another child at the time. It is unknown if the baby was sleeping in a crib. The family also owns a pit bull. Fayette County Animal Control removed both dogs by request of the owner.
So the family says that the JR killed the baby. Sure hope the police check the bite marks to the 2 dogs to find out in fact if it was the pit-bull or the JR. Bet it wasn’t the JR.
As in the case of all fatalities, this will unravel and unfold. Over time, more information should come forth. It’s interesting that the family gave both dogs up (since only one was presumably guilty), on the other hand, the tragedy is so severe, it is understandable that they would not want any dog in the household any longer.
In a later story, the President of the Homeonwers Association mentions previously sending letters about the behavior of the Pit Bulls…
http://www.kentucky.com/211/story/291759.html
Gotta wonder what different legal ramifications the family faces if it was a bona fide freak accident by the JRT, or the customary manslaughter by a known problem Pit Bull?
Wow!
You actually took the time and initiative to post a story that shows that Pit Bulls aren’t the only dog that bites.
Better not keep that up, we wouldn’t want people to get confused by the facts.
You are obviously guilty of what you accuse the media of doing, IGNORING NON-PIT BULL ATTACKS!
I post MANY of the non-pit bull attacks on this site. In Fact, I post ALL dog attacks that I find on the web, regardless of breed.
Conflicts with your paranoid psychotic world view doesn’t it?
Haven’t noticed any selective listing of stories on this site. It just so happens that the vast majority of the maulings are caused by a few “life flight” breeds.
And these are just the stories that make the news….there were several incidents involving pit bulls in my Massachusetts suburb that never even made the local paper. The ones that make the paper usually are the ones that involve serious injury, or extreme outrage because the dog has a history of menacing behavior. I think the “pit bull problem” is, if anything, exponentially greater than the pro-pit people would have us believe.
Pit bulls are not common where I live, but the few that do live here seem to be a consistent source of problems for neighbors and residents….I am still waiting to meet the mythical “responsible pit bull owner”, because all the pit bull owners I have met seem to be anything but.
I agree w/ the comment that pit-bull owners don’t seem like very responsible owners. To me, if I see someone w/ a pit, I have to ask myself, “What are they selling behind closed doors”, or “What are they trying to hide?”. One more thought regarding this infant and JRT mauling, we have our pediatricians tell us about immunizations, tell us about how to hold our newborns, tell us about helmets when the children are old enough to start riding bikes. The warnings from our doctors are crucial, especially in this day and time when common sense and younger parents (not all of them) seem to miss a lot of important, educated details…what I am saying is that maybe pediatricians and family doctors need to warn new parents about the risks involved w/ having any breed alone w/ a baby. Dogs are not humans. I love dogs, but I love my children more. I’ve had a terrier and she was a neat dog (Scottish terrier), but she did not tolerate small children and babies AT ALL. Terriers are super dogs, very smart, but you simply do not leave them alone w/ little ones or infants. Thank you for taking my comments and thoughts.
it sounded to me like the pit bulls were strictly outdoor dogs, with their own set of problems.
regardless of which dog did the actual killing, if i was in their position, i would have gotten rid of them all too.
You’re right, many problems with all breeds of dogs go unreported. I talked with an older man today, that I’ve known for 30 years, Two pit bull mixes killed one of his cats a couple days ago and they were back this morning, he went for his shotgun and they were gone before he got back. He has the gun closer at hand and is going to kill them next time. The dogs live next door and are on the loose all the time. I don’t understand why these people think their dogs should be on the loose.
On the internet I have noticed that a lot of pitbull owners also own small dogs of another breed. Those small dogs are invariably nasty little creatures that bite and hurt people. Pitbull owners seem to have a real problem raising and training lapdogs but when it comes to their pitbulls they have no such problem. Their pits always turn about to be sweet and well behaved.
Can’t control a lapdogs behavior but can control your pitbulls?