Aiden McGrew was killed by his family's recently adopted golden retriever-mix.
Father Charged
UPDATE 05/02/12: The infant's father, Quintin H. McGrew, has been charged with unlawful neglect of a child. An affidavit accompanying his arrest warrant stated that McGrew "placed a 2-month-old infant at unreasonable risk by placing the infant in the living room by himself while the defendant slept in the bedroom. The infant was left in the separate room with a dog that was new to the residence for over an hour resulting in the disembowelment and death of the minor child."
04/23/12: 911 Call Released
A description of the 911 call made Friday morning offers new details about the tragic death of 2-month old Aiden McGrew. In the call, the baby's mother, Chantel McGrew, told the operator, "I believe my 2 and 1/2 year old got the baby out of the swing. I believe the dog went after my son, because the dog has blood all over him." She added about the attacking dog: "He's put in the bedroom away from the baby because he tried to go after the baby again when I got home."1
04/23/12: Death Ruled Homicide
Dorchester County Coroner Chris Nisbet ruled the death of 2-month old Aiden McGrew a homicide. He announced Monday that the child died from blood loss after being severely mauled by the family's dog. Nisbet said parental neglect contributed to the boy's death. Aiden was discovered Friday morning after being badly bitten and dismembered by his family's newly adopted dog. At the time of the incident, his father was sleeping in an adjoining room.
04/21/12: Killed While Father Slept
News agencies report that the family had two dogs. One was apparently asleep with the father at the time of the attack. The offending golden retriever-mix, named Lucky, had recently been adopted by the family. The dog's previous owner was not named. The deceased boy's parents, Quintin and Chantel McGrew were questioned Friday. The couple's other children, ages 7 and 3, were taken into protective custody by the state Department of Social Services.
Knight said Quintin McGrew was sleeping in a bed with the 3-year-old child and the family's other dog, and Chantel McGrew was taking the 7-year-old to a doctor's visit, when Aiden was attacked.
The Death of Zane Alen Earles
In 2008, the mauling death of 2-month old Zane Alen Earles by the family's Labrador puppy horrified the American public. The boy's mother found him dead in an infant swing about 10:30 am that morning. Up until that point, she had been sleeping. The nature of the baby's injuries were "so sensitive" that Tulsa police did not release any details other than that the infant had been bitten to death. Months later, a police affidavit stated that the dog "ate the two-month-old victim."
Authorities charged the baby's mother with second-degree manslaughter.
04/20/12: Infant Killed by Family Dog
Ridgeville, SC - In a developing story, Dorchester County Coroner Chris Nesbit stated in a news release that a 2-month old child was bitten numerous times and dismembered by a dog in his family's home about 11 am Friday. Aiden McGrew's father was asleep at the time of the attack and his mother was not home. Two other children in the home were unharmed. An autopsy is scheduled for Saturday to determine if the boy was dead prior to the dog dismembering him.
The Daily Mail reports that the dog was a recently rescued retriever.
Related articles:
11/04/08: 2008 Dog Bite Fatality: Tulsa Infant Killed by Labrador Puppy
Shave this dog's head and what do you get?
M.M.: It would be pleasantly ironic, almost poetic justice, if we end up in a country where most dogs actually do look like the dog that we were once most afraid of.
S.C.: I suppose that would be ironic, wouldn’t it?
FYI: they will act like pit bulls too.
I kept my 2-mo-old granddaughter for 9 hours yesterday as this news was breaking. I'm also responsible for my son's 2 basset hounds. If I went to the kitchen or to the bathroom, she was with me, even though the fat basset hounds slept all day. The baby never left my arms or my side. This is one incident where I'd like to see DNA done and the father fully investigated…but I doubt it will ever happen. The 2nd picture of the dog on the Daily Mail story where it is standing sideways is an interesting shot.
The ears definitely look Golden, but the face and eyes are nothing like any Golden I have ever seen. I'm sure anyone even passingly familiar with Goldens and their close mixes would agree.
Pit bull mix. Look at that head.
Did they wonder WHY the previous home wanted to give the dog up? There is so much "rehoming" of vicious dogs and bite cases.
The aggression and prey drive are dominant in these pit bull mixes, no matter what else is mixed in with them, which is why more responsible shelters are not dealing with the pit mixes either.
So the underground dog dealers are then foisting them off on families that don't know any better, in part because the pit bull has been dropped from the breed mix description.
It's consumer fraud.
A lot of baby's are attacked by dogs in those swings. I don't know if it has something to do with the movement or whether it is because parents often put their baby in these swings when they haven't got time to keep an eye on them and they leave them alone in a room with the dog. Another possibility is that the swing is standing low on the floor and is very easy to get to compared to a proper cot or a playpen. Anyway that was the news 15 years ago when these things were introduced.
"A lot of baby's are attacked by dogs in those swings"
No they aren't except by pit bulls and rottweilers and their mixes.
There are millions of these swings in operation every day, and millions of dogs.
If it was the fault of "the swing" there would be daily deaths.
There aren't.
The linking factor in these deaths is the breed or breed mix, not "swings and dogs." Genetics wins out.
What about children in swings at parks? Millions every day. No mass dog hysteria there, unless the prey drive of a fighting breed kicks in.
I recently read an article on this website about how dogs that are said to be of a certain breed, actually are not!
http://smartpet.net
With the above story, the face of that dog looks nothing like that of a Golden and I would definitely question if there is any Golden in him at all!
If I were these people's lawyer, I'd claim failure to grant my client equal rights under the law to all the pit owners whose children get savaged or whose pit kills someone else's child. The pit owner maybe gets a ticket, the children aren't removed from the home, they just have to live with whatever pits mom and dad still have left after (if) the mauler/murderer is put down. Why should my non-pit owning client be treated differently?
Ditto denial of equal rights to keep the mauling/killing dog just because it's not a pit.
I'd also be trying to prove this dog is after all half pit, because then my clients would get both the dog and the children back. After all, when a pit kills a child it's always a freak accident, the pit absolutely must get another chance.
Our society has become so sick it's almost unbearable…
Well said, Sputnik
He lists the manner of death as homicide. Nisbet said that the baby was in a high chair when he was attacked by the dog. Swing or high chair…
http://www.wbtv.com/story/17661043/parental-neglect-listed-as-cause-of-2-month-olds-death-by-dog-mauling
Last US Child I could find mauled to death by a Goldie was 38 years ago…
1974 Golden Retriever kills child
Wish the Pit Community could go 38 days between them!
that is a telling comparison of frequency of bites. Breed doesn't matter?
The more you look at this, the more this appears to be a two-dog killing. While the father may have been asleep in the other room, no dog would stay asleep while "in the adjoining room" a baby was being mauled to death by another dog. It's just not possible, unless that dog was deaf. A two-dog killing would help explain the amputation (though this is not required). It's unclear why both dogs were not immediately euthanized and stomach contents searched. Then again, I guess authorities don't need that evidence to prove parental neglect.
This dog is absolutely a pit bull mix. It is the type of dog that a no kill dump shelter or "rescue" would mislabel a golden mix, conveniently dropping the pit bull from the mix description to push this dog onto a family and get it off their hands.
The problem with that is that not only is it consumer fraud, the new family does not understand that pit bull mixes don't act like golden retrievers. The ignorant public gets set up for failure, the dog is set up for failure, and serious injury or death is often the byproduct.
The question still remains- why did the previous family give up this dog? Too often, pit bulls or pit bull mixes that shows signs of aggression or bite are "rehomed" rather than properly euthanized.
Either the no kill shelter or rescue doesn't tell you about the aggression, or the person who gave up the dog or left it on the streets to become someone else's problem doesn't tell anyone about the aggression. The dog just gets dumped in a new situation to do the same thing. It is a very real "vicious circle."
A couple of selected Adoption mishaps:
Philadelphia Inquirer – September 10, 2003 – A01 LOCAL
Shelter: Error put killer dog up for adoption
The previous owner of a Doberman pinscher that killed a Medford woman Sunday had paid to have the dog destroyed at a North Jersey animal shelter after an attack this year. An attorney for Associated Humane Societies in Newark, where the dog was adopted in late August, confirmed that the previous owner had taken the 95-pound, 3-year-old Doberman to the shelter after it bit her in the head. Authorities did not identify the previous owner, who paid $55 to have the animal euthanized and…
Associated Humane Societies traffics man killer Doberman
Panhandle Area Welfare Society closed it's doors after featured "Pet of the Week" killed a 4 year old Nathan Carpenter. The staff probably has other fulfilling jobs in the F-Troop Humane world.
August 1988 – Ft. Walton Beach, Florida
Four-year-old Nathan Carpenter killed by a neighbor's recently acquired hybrid that had been featured as "pet of the week" at the shelter from which it was adopted; Panhandle Area Welfare Society (PAWS) paid a $425,000 settlement to the boy's family.
Pet of the week
I think the dog in the picture could possibly be a pit-chow cross; that wopuld explain the long fur.
I have been around LOTS of Goldens in my lifetime, and that dog is NOT a Golden…its some sort of mix. The square, blocky head is a dead giveaway.
I do feel so sorry for this family. There were times when my babies had fallen asleep in their swing, or bouncy chair, or playpen, and rather than disturb them to put them in the crib, I'd let them nap there. I imagine that is what happened here. I do not own dogs, though. However, I'm sure they, like so many others, never imagined man's best friend could do such a thing. When I was younger, especially as a child, my feelings toward dogs was naive — I knew not to approach strange dogs, but I would never have considered a friend's dog, or our family dog when I was a child, to be potentially dangerous. I would put my face in their's to get kisses, just like Kyle the newswoman who was recently bitten on a live newscast. But after witnessing my beloved 15 yo cat torn apart by a pack of dogs, and being utterly helpless to stop it, my naivite was replaced by cold hard reality. Any dog can be a killer. This was a group of neighborhood dogs, dogs that would happily trot down the street and join me on my daily walks. We have no leash laws. When I told the owners' what had happened, they were also shocked that their dogs could do such a thing. These dogs were all beloved family pets, definitely not abused or neglected. I admit, my attitude about dogs forever changed that day. Prior to this, I actually enjoyed the loose dogs on my daily walks. I never take a dog's potential to harm for granted anymore. And I carry a big stick when I walk.
We can only hope that other dog owner's learn from this man's tragic mistake, and realize that dogs are first and foremost dogs, not members of the family. They are not fur babies. And hopefully, the charge of neglect will also open some eyes, and help to end the complacency. But I'm sure tonight, large numbers of parents will let their dog sleep in their child's bed, because their dog is just so sweet and just loves children.
Wow, we've got attorney Andy Savage (representing the father) written all over this piece!
http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20120509/PC16/120509173&slId=7
Block out the fuzzy ears and you can easily see the Pit Bull in this mixed beed.
I just ran across an update on this story here: http://www.postandcourier.com/news/working-to-change-life-ridgeville-father-gets-probation-in-infant/article_1e5c3160-e738-11e6-8663-232264f59863.html
It's very sad all the way around. This family's been through a lot. I hesitated at bringing more attention to them, even here, but I know you are good at updating stories and this one finally has some closure.
Also, truth is so crucial on this topic of dog attacks. I wonder if you saw the other (old) article that mentions the family's pit bull mix, Reaper: http://abcnews4.com/archive/mcgrew-family-member
Not going to speculate further… I'll just note that once again a pit bull is close by in a situation that involves poor judgment and pain and death caused by dogs.