Please donate to support our work

DogsBite.org is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt public charity organization. Learn more »

10 thoughts on “2014 Dog Bite Fatality: Teenager Killed by Bullmastiff, Second Teenager Hospitalized

Please review our comment policy.

  1. This has been a horrible week.

    I am skeptical in these attacks when they are not attributed to a pit bull.
    Without photos I assume its a pit bull or pit bull mix.
    Even if its really a bullmastiff they came from bulldogs so it really is one and the same.

    My prayers go out to the families of these boys.

  2. The deaths are coming fast and furious. Every time I read another story like this I can't help but wonder, what's it going to take for regular people to stand up and say ENOUGH! No more pit bulls! We don't believe the advocates!!!

  3. According to the breed standard, the 'bull mastiff' is 40% 'bulldog'. They don't mean the wheezing Winston Churchill type that chokes on its own tongue and can hardly walk. They mean the good old fashioned fighting bulldog that we now call pit bull.

    No matter the kennel club paper shuffles, this is a pit bull mix.

    The same goes if they try to call it a 'presa Canario' or a 'cane Corso' or 'dogue de Bordeaux' or any of the other names they've thought up for mastiff / pit bull mixes. It's time to stop falling for their fictive name games and call it what it is, call these 'dogs' what they really are.

  4. This attack horrifically mirrors the attack on Scotty Mason and Dominic Solesky. Those boys were 10-years old, coming up the alley when the pit bull first jumped out of its pen and attacked Scotty. If you recall, pit bull owner Thomas O'Halloran (who was later charged and convicted of reckless endangerment) put the dog back in the pen then threaten the bloody and bitten Scotty not to tell anyone. He shoved Scotty out his front door, which was a busy street. Scotty walked home alone, terrified. Minutes later, the pit bull jumped out its pen again and attacked Dominic who was coming up the alley, nearly killing him. These two 13-year old boys were apparently walking home from school when the monster bullmastiff easily scaled the crappy fence and attacked. This is where the two stories diverge. Scotty and Dominic were playing with a group of boys; others in the group were able to alert adults soon after Dominic was attacked. The surviving 13-year old in this case was scared out of his mind, trying to get home. But why did he tell the people trying to help him NOT TO CALL 911? WHY DID HE NOT MENTION THAT HIS BEST FRIEND WAS ALSO ATTACKED BY THE DOG?

  5. My best uniformed guess as to why the boy didn't mention his friend, or want to call 911 is this: He didn't realize that his friend didn't get away.

    In the pre-pit bull world, a dog bite was not really 911 worthy. Many people still live in this world thanks to the lies that spew forth from the mouths of pit nutters. He may have felt that it was their fault and he would get in trouble if he raised a ruckus. I was bit by a dog (a normal dog) when I was about this age, and I remember being ashamed, even though I had done nothing wrong. Also, he was just 13 and had been scared out of his wits. I think he just wanted to go home and call his friend. 13 is very young to be expected to deal with such a traumatic event in exactly just the right way. You don't expect to be attacked by a monster when you're walking home in your own neighborhood.

  6. I stated exactly that — "The surviving 13-year old in this case was scared out of his mind, trying to get home." That's what Scotty did too. This does not change that shadier elements of the dog's owner might have been involved.

  7. Heart-rending details in this story, and more to come. The sad trail through the snow is very touching. Precious few excuses here, from anyone. So many KNEW this beast was highly dangerous; some attempted to do something about that, whilst others did nothing. However, the buck stops with the owner of the creature. He knew full well what it had done in the past and what it was capable of. The end result, the death of this poor boy, is down to the toxic and deadly relationship between him and his Fighting Breed based dog. Did he EVER think this story would have a happy ending, with a monster like that under his 'care'? Welcome to Fighting Breed ownership REALITY – ugly, brutal, in constant denial, obstinate, lacking in public spirit, intolerant of the safety of others, blinded by some misguided attachment to one of the most dangerous types of dog in the world. And who pays the price? An innocent boy.

Comments are closed.