On Thursday, Isaiah Geiling, 2, was mauled to death by a family pit bull in Louisville.
Mother Fights Extradition
UPDATE 01/07/21: The mother of a child killed by a pit bull is now fighting extradition from Shelby County, Indiana to face charges in the death of her son. Jennifer Geiling, of Louisville, was arrested on December 30, on a warrant issued out of Jefferson County, Kentucky, on charges of manslaughter in the second-degree and reckless homicide. Due to Covid-19, her trial, which also charged two other adults, has been continuously been delayed. Geiling eventually fled to Indiana.
The Shelby County Post reports new details, including that the dog had attacked multiple people in the past, including its owner; a neighbor had previously shot at the dog and that Louisville Police had previously responded to calls about the aggressive dog. According to testimony from a neighbor, Geiling blamed her child, saying, that the child "always screams and sets the dog off." Geiling remains in custody at the Shelby County Jail while the extradition proceedings continue.
"According to Kentucky Court Records that obtained by the Shelby County Prosecutor, the charges stem from an incident on May 2, 2019, when Geiling’s 2 year-old son was mauled to death by a pit bull. According to the report and information from an investigator with the Jefferson County, Kentucky Commonwealth Attorney’s Office, this not the first time that the pit bull had injured the child, and the pit bull also had a history of aggression against various others as well, up to the point that one neighbor had previously shot at the dog. It had a history of attacking and biting people, including its owner, and the Louisville Police Department had responded before to calls regarding the aggressive dog.
The report indicates that on May 2, 2019, another woman was lying on a bed and watching television with the child when the pit bull (named "King") jumped onto the bed and immediately grabbed the child by the head and began shaking him violently. The dog then pulled the child to the floor, where it clamped onto the child’s head/neck area and resumed violently shaking the child. By the time that two neighbors were able to get the dog to release the child, it was too late." - Shelby County Post, January 7, 2021
07/23/19: Three People Indicted
Three people have been indicted after the fatal dog mauling of a 2-year old boy back in May. Jack Charpring Jr., 50, and Sharon (Sharyn) Charpring, 53, are both charged with second-degree manslaughter in connection to the brutal death of 2-year old Isaiah Geiling. The Charprings reside at the home in the 3800 block of Grand Avenue where the deadly attack occurred. The child's mother, 25-year old Jennifer Geiling, faces a charge of complicity to reckless homicide.
Prosecutors said the Charpings and the Geilings are not related, but lived in the same residence on Grand Avenue, reports WLKY.
Jack Charpring owned the male pit bull named King that fatally attacked the boy. He previously spoke to WAVE-TV but refused to be identified. In a husky voice, Charpring stated in May: "I know it was an accident. But, at the same time, he did take a little boy's life accidentally. Eye for an eye. Little boy died, he [King] deserves to die." Charpring also claimed his dog had never bitten Isaiah before. Both Charprings can bee seen in the background of this news footage looking anxious.
The child's mother has multiple Facebook pages, each with different last names. After Isaiah was killed, his maternal grandmother, Cynthia Coy, asked WDRB, "Where was my daughter? Was she there?" Coy also said the dog had previously bitten Isaiah. She showed a photograph of the boy's dog bite injury too. Thus, there are now significant criminal charges. The adults who were Isaiah's caretakers knew about the dog's vicious propensities and did not protect Isaiah from this dog.
Second-degree manslaughter (involuntary manslaughter) in Kentucky is a Class C felony and is punishable by a term of imprisonment of 5 to 10 years. Reckless homicide is a closely related offense, but is a Class D felony and is punishable by a term of imprisonment of 1 to 5 years.
05/03/19: Dog Attacked Child Before
On Friday, WLKY updated their report with new information. They spoke to the child's maternal grandmother, Cynthia Coy, who said the deadly dog mauling came just weeks after the dog had attacked Isaiah, ripping his ear. Coy provided a photograph of the child's injury. "So obviously the dog has attacked him before," Coy said. "Where was my daughter? Was she there?" Coy asked, referring to the home on Grand Avenue where the fatal dog mauling occurred on Thursday.
According to WLKY footage, Isaiah was with a "relative" at the home on Grand Avenue when the dog attacked. Shelby Chadwell, who along with his cousin risked his life to save the boy, stated yesterday, "The man that owns the dog had a very tough time wrestling the dog, pinning it, and getting it under control to take it back home." Unidentified neighbors told WLKY the dog was known for its aggressiveness and had gotten loose at least two or three times in the past.
05/02/19: Family Pit Bull-Mix Kills Boy
Louisville, KY - A 2-year old boy is dead after being attacked by a dog in Louisville's Chickasaw neighborhood. The attack occurred inside a home in the 3800 bock of Grand Avenue. Officers were dispatched to the home at 12:00 pm, after a report that a dog had bitten a child, according to Louisville Metro Police. When officers arrived at the scene, they found the injured boy and began performing CPR. He was transported to Norton Children's Hospital, where he later died.
A reporter from WLKY Tweeted earlier today that the attacking dog is a pit bull. The WLKY Facebook page shows an image of a dog appearing to pit bull-lab mixture being taken from the home on Grand Avenue. So far, police have not released breed information. The address of the home on Grand Avenue is also listed on the Foreclosure.com website. The dog was taken into custody by Louisville Metro Animal Services and will be held in quarantine for 10 days.
Audio Dispatch Logs
Audio dispatch from Louisville Fire on Broadcastify.com clearly states the dog is a pit bull and the child was bitten in the head. "Engine 19, I have you responding, this is EMS code 3. Police are responding along with EMS … Approximately a 3-year old child that has been bitten by a pit bull in the head. Heavy bleeding. Child is conscious. Time is 12:02," states dispatch. The dispatcher then quickly relays a critical update to Engine 19, "Update, advised, this child has stopped breathing."
Afternoon Updates
The Louisville Courier Journal reports that police responded to the home in the 3800 block of Grand Avenue about noon on reports of a child in the mouth of a pit bull, according to dispatch records. Officers performed CPR on the young boy before the ambulance arrived. A spokesman for Louisville Metro Animal Services, Teeya Barnes, confirmed to Courier Journal that her agency responded to the residence on Grand Avenue after reports that a child was injured by a pit bull.
"He was barely breathing on the floor, a lot of blood, face down. It was the worst. It's not something I want to relive." - Neighbor Shelby Chadwell
WDRB spoke to neighbors who rushed to help the boy. Shelby Chadwell, who lives next-door, said a woman pounded on his door Thursday morning asking for help. Chadwell and his cousin ran into the home and found the dog on top of the child. "It was a ferocious dog," Chadwell said. "We had to get the dog out of the room. So my cousin used sticks and bashed them together and scared the dog away. We put the dresser in the hallway to block the dog off and get out of there," he said.
WDRB also captured footage of the dog while animal control officers used control poles to contain it. The dog is seen biting the poles. Investigators say the only thing that is left to determine about the dog's breed is whether it is a purebred pit bull or pit bull-mix. Lt. Emily McKinley said that responding to the scene was difficult for everyone involved. "I know a lot of people are pretty shook up having to go through that and experience that, including our officers," McKinley said.
The male family pit bull-mix that attacked and killed 2-year old Isaiah Geiling on Thursday.
The home on Grand Avenue where a 2-year old boy was killed by a pit bull-mix in Louisville.
View the DogsBite.org Google State Map: Kentucky Fatal Pit Bull Attacks.Related articles:
02/11/19: 2019 Dog Bite Fatality: Family Pit Bull-Mix Kills Baby Boy in Guthrie, Kentucky
01/26/19: 2018 Dog Bite Fatality: Winchester Mother Dies After Pit Bull Mauling Inside Her Home
Law enforcement departments across the United States should release consistent "baseline" information to the media and the public after each fatal dog mauling, including these items.
It often seems that these situations happen in homes where the living conditions look less than ideal. I have to wonder if it’s just that most people that own pitbulls make poor life decisions in general, or is it that maybe they haven’t the resources to educate themselves on the breed? However, it’s safe to assume that everyone has a smart phone with an internet connection these days, so surely they could do a minimal amount of research. Does the breed attract a certain kind of person because of its propensity to kill? Someone who doesn’t value their life or want to make themselves better? I’m not trying to be disparage anyone living on meager means, as I’ve been in that situation before as a college student and young (too young) military wife with three jobs, living on the bad side of a military town. But that home certainly doesn’t appear to be fit for a dog, let alone a child. One must wonder how someone affords to feed and care for a large dog, but lives in a shack? Maybe it’s fruitless to attempt to understand insanity. I feel bad for children in these situations.
I think there are 3 main types of pit bull owners.
Type 1 are the young adults who just don’t know what these dogs are about. They typically want to rescue or save one of these dogs. ( I almost was one of them on 3 occasions in which there were pits I encountered and felt bad for because of their living situations.)
Type 2 are the people whose lives are a mess such as this kind of situation. Type 2 also includes older people who can’t say no to their adult children and enable them by allowing these dogs into the home. They did not raise their children to become productive adults. It also includes people like my neighbor whose yard is like Grey Gardens and who put out a dog shit-stained sofa for the trash men one year. They have some money but still, they can’t keep things in order. It also includes those who think that breeding these dogs is a good way to make money.
Type 3 is the minority owner who uses the dog for either boar hunting, especially in the south, or dogfighting. This is the only owner who respects what these dogs can do.
The shit stained sofa. I can’t….
That’s why I guess I just don’t get it. I haven’t always had what I needed, but I kept what I had clean.
I agree with what you say about the “types” of people who own dogs. I think poverty is a factor, mixed with ignorance of the breed in many cases. As mentioned, animal shelters are mostly full of pit-bulls, so if a family can’t afford a dog, the animal shelter is where they are going to go, and they will have a very limited choice at the animal shelter. Also, the no-kill shelter in my area, has had “free pit-bull weekends” in the past, because they are so overrun with pit-bulls, they waive the normal adoption fee and give them out for free. Once again, it’s people in poverty who will be most attracted to that offer. To make it worse, a good portion of people in poverty are young people with children, or elderly people–in other words the kind of people most likely to be mauled to death by a pit bull.
I really don’t think it’s lack of education/resources that make people choose this type of pet. It’s advertising by the pit lobby and the very confusing dual nature of the pits themselves. Ask pretty much any pit owner and they will deny, deny, deny that their pit has any propensity for violence. Pit bulls are just misunderstood, have a bad rap and will lick you to death (a description that always makes my skin crawl). Most people are idiots that will believe whatever they’re told as long as it goes with what they want to believe. This combined with the pit’s ability to be a smiling wiggle butt makes people think they are good pets that are not capable of ripping a human being literally to shreds.
Then there are those who like them because they are bad ass killers.
Both types are dangerous. They are playing Russian roulette with their own lives as well as any living creature in their vicinity. That these dogs can have a reputation of being sweet pets and bad ass killers is amazing to me. I just stay as far away from them as I can.
Troubled people are attracted to a troubled breed.
Poor little boy. I just spent the weekend with a nephew this age and the thought of him dying in such a way is utterly horrifying. Thankfully his family owns a cranky old dachshund mix. She growls, she bares her teeth, she has been known to snap… lots of people would say she is a “meaner” dog than their sweet pit bulls…. but she is not capable of this kind of mutilation, and that is all the difference in the world.
I’m glad there is footage of this dog to take away any guesswork that at the minimum this is a pit mix. I’m infuriated to think that some advocates will be upset at the “rough handling” the dog received as it was being taken out of the home. Note the quotes.
I do agree that troubled people are drawn to troubled dogs. But also, unfortunately these days one has to purposely avoid getting a pit bull or a pit mix because they are cheap and readily available. Everyone is told to “adopt, don’t shop” but when you go to the shelter, it’s overrun with pits. Take a look at the advertisements for dogs in newspapers and online, and around here you find pits. Pits, pits everywhere.
I was camping this previous week in Florida, and I saw pits at two different campgrounds. One woman was walking her pit/Lab mix and another woman struck up a conversation with her about how misunderstood they are, how they just want love, how she “rescued” him as a puppy, how the only problem with her dog was that he runs up to jump on people because he loves them so much and it scares people. Of course they laughed about this…. “Who could be afraid of such a smiling face?” The dog pictured here which killed this little boy looked just like hers but was a different color. A face like her dog’s was the last thing that little boy probably saw. What a shame.
Which again bolsters my experience that pit owners are the most delusions, incompetent, careless and stupid dog owners of them all. They routinely fail to leash, vaccinate, contain, spay and neuter, and take even minimal precautions to prevent maulings, then act shocked when the inevitable happens.
Giant gaping maw lined with sharp teeth = smiling to these idiots. Alligators and Crocodiles must be the happiest animals on earth then.
Last week I was shopping at a local farm supply store that unfortunately advertises itself as “pets always welcome.”
Two college-age girls come in with their dogs. A decade ago, they would have been purse-sized pups, but in 2019 of course the preferred canine accessories are pit bulls, which is what they had.
A family was in there with two small children, the oldest of whom looked to be about seven. He points at the dogs and yells, “Pit bulls!”
I thought to myself, “And here I thought you had to have a doctorate in animal biology to be able to identify a pit bull…and here’s a second grader able to do it!”
To each his zone. Where I live, there are very few pit bulls; German shepherds are the popular dangerous animal of choice. Nice neighborhood, but it is plain old unsafe to set foot out the door, for fear of attack charge by neighbors German shepherds and other large mix breeds running the streets at large. Pedestrians live with the risk, because dangerous dogs “get out all the time”.
Sounds a lot like where I’m at. We live in an upscale rural subdivision (a few acres per lot), our HOA forbids aggressive breeds, but we have to deal with the surrounding trailer park crackheads and their loose pitbulls. It’s not safe to take a walk without a gun. I have to guard my children with a revolver and shotgun while they play, heaven forbid I let the oldest play unsupervised even to grab a glass of water from inside. We must all take our shoes off and come inside as a group when someone needs something. Have had multiple neighbors shoot and unfortunately miss these hideous beasts. We’ve had to change our lifestyle to accommodate the impending dangers the dogs pose. No more jogging outdoors. If you must exercise, you can only walk with a gun on your hip because if you run, you’ll be chased down by someone’s pack of “butt-wigglers”. Have to load and unload my children into my minivan with the garage door closed because these things have charged into my garage before. How much should we be forced to endure, particularly on our own property? We should all be writing our elected officials for change.
I just don’t understand this.
I have a male GSD (he’ll be a year old in two weeks)! He is the sweetest, most loving boy in the world; he stands rock-still while we play with his tongue and teeth or paws, while we take treats and toys right out of his mouth. One of my daughters is sometimes nervous around him (she’s nervous around dogs in general; we thought having him from a puppy would help, and it has, but she can still get nervous sometimes) and we’ve noticed that he is always extra gentle and calm with her, even though he’s still so young and exuberant in general. He’s just a fantastic dog.
But I am always, *always* aware of the amount of damage he could do if he chose to. It breaks my heart to have to tell sweet children at the park that they can’t pet him–we get asked often, because he is such a handsome boy, and I walk him twice a day for 30-40 minutes at a time–but I refuse to take a chance that he will get too excited and jump up on or otherwise somehow hurt a child. I gather his leash tight when kids walk by and have the “buzzer” at the ready (he wears an e-collar for training purposes, at the lowest possible setting as an attention-getter) because I don’t even want to take the chance that he will startle or scare a child. Yes, we train a lot, and work on recall and the “off” command, and he obeys…but I am still aware that he’s obeying because he *chooses* to, and one day he might not, and if that happens and he scares or (God forbid) injures a child I would never forgive myself. He’s a big boy. He could hurt someone. It’s my responsibility to make sure he doesn’t. Our gate is *always* closed, and marked with signs (we’ve had him 10 months and he has *never* “somehow gotten loose.”) He is *always* leashed and supervised when not in the house or the backyard. Because that is the way it has to be when you have a big dog.
Aside from that…we don’t let him run around unsupervised because it’s not safe for *him,* either! I love GSDs and have always wanted one, and I finally have one (I wanted a baby, I got a dog, lol). We found a breeder and paid a good chunk of money for him (no more shelter dogs for this girl, sadly; I won’t give those pit pushers my money). Like I said above, he is *beautiful,* a really stellar example of how gorgeous GSDs can be. Even if he wasn’t hit by a car or shot by someone who was scared to see him running loose, he could be stolen in a heartbeat and I have no doubt someone would want to. A good-looking, strong, un-neutered* young male GSD is worth money to dog thieves and lots of other people would take him to be their own pet. Why in the world would I just casually take that risk? Why in the world would I just let him roam around, to potentially scare people, to potentially be harmed himself, to potentially be stolen? What is wrong with people who let their animals wander like that in an area where other people are trying to walk their own dogs or enjoy their yards or walk down the street? Even if he never hurt a soul, he could scare people, and they have a right to walk the streets un-scared.
I just don’t get it, like I said. I am 100% confident that my dog would never hurt me and would never want to hurt another person for fun, or whatever. But like I said, I am also 100% aware of the damage he could do if he wanted to, or even if he just got too excited playing. I chose to own this breed; it is MY responsibility to keep him and every human around him safe. It is MY responsibility to care for him; it is MY responsibility to make sure he gets enough exercise (hence walking for 3-4 miles every day, and playing ball in the backyard for anywhere from 5-45 minutes per day, too). I would no sooner let my dog run free on the streets than I would have let my daughters run free on the streets when they were toddlers. If you aren’t willing to put in the time and be responsible, don’t get a high-energy breed with the ability to really do harm; get a chih or a shih-tzu or something (also great dogs, and so adorable, and no, they shouldn’t be allowed to wander the streets either, I’m just saying they’re less energetic and far less capable of serious damage).
(*He is still un-neutered because for large breeds, especially breeds like the GSD who are prone to hip problems, studies have indicated that it is best to let them keep their testes until they reach full growth–the hormones help strengthen their tendons and bones, and help them reach their full muscle mass and height. He WILL be fixed closer to the end of this year. We are considering the possibility of finding someone with a bitch they’d like to breed, because we’d like to have another GSD puppy [and to be honest, we’re tired of everything being pit mixes today and sometimes think it would be good to get more GSDs/normal pure breed dogs out there to be available to sane people] but we are by no means set on that and if we did it would be only once, and he would be neutered right after. Just explaining lest someone think we just aren’t bothering to neuter him. It WILL be done.)
Sorry for the length. And sorry you live near such lazy, irresponsible owners. You deserve better and those GSDs deserve better.
I have been mystified by Pit Bull owners for years. My own daughter has two rescue animals and I will admit they have been very meek dogs since they got them years ago. My grandson, now 5, has been raised with them and they have never had any issues despite the boy pulling ears etc. I think they are lucky.
However I will say they (and other relatives I have that own them) are generally closed minded when it comes to the breed. Saying such expected phrases as “they are lovable” “it’s not the breeds fault” “some owners raise their dogs to be vicious”. They seem to ignore all statistics and news stories that indicate these dogs have a violent disposition.
We live in the Louisville area and I guarantee you none of my relatives who own Pit Bulls will make a single comment over the 3 year old child getting killed. They will ignore it like it never happened.
That’s the problem with pit bulls, though, and it’s what I tell my girls and everyone else with whom the subject comes up. They *are* lovable. They *are* sweet and goofy and friendly. The trouble is, pit bulls are lovable, sweet, and goofy…until the moment they are not, and there is NO WAY to predict when or if that moment will come.
Since millions of other dogs, hundreds of other breeds, are also lovable, sweet, goofy, and friendly, why on earth would you take the risk of having a pet that in addition to those qualities also has the genetic propensity to one day just snap and kill you, when you can get a pet with those qualities that does NOT have the propensity to snap and kill you?
There is nothing about a pit bull that makes it worth the risk, and the risk is too large to accept.
I actually know the father of this BEAUTIFUL child (god bless his soul) the child didn’t live there he was just visiting his grandmother on mothers side
That’s horrific. Why was that child not protected after the first attack?
Where was my daughter? I think the bigger question is why wasn’t the dog PTS after the FIRST attack.
Absolutely! Seems like a good case for criminal prosecution here. I think that is the only thing which will deter some from owning these dogs… some. The natural maternal protection a mother should feel for her own child obviously isn’t enough, but maybe the idea of jail sentences will be.
This just breaks my heart and then it angers me to read this child had been attacked by this same dog just weeks before. Where was anyone to protect him? Why wasn’t CPS brought in at that time? I can only pray that there will be criminal charges because they are certainly deserved in this case. Every person who knew that baby had been attacked prior and ALLOWED him to still be put in that kind of danger should be charged.
Agree
I wish this breed was eradicated. Every single one of these dogs in the world is not worth the life of one innocent child. Rips my heart to think about it happening and when it will happen next.
“Judge the morality of a Nation by how the animals are treated.”
Compassionate sane moral Nations do not support dog fighters and the continued breeding of game insane fighting dogs.
Look to the true experts of unprovoked, prolonged, neutral ground,suicidal, deadly dog aggression: the dog fighters.
Convicted dog fighter, pit bull “bulldog” breeder Tom Garner never says “it’s how you raise them”.
He knows that heritage and breeding matters most. That’s how he describes his dogs, by their bloodlines. That’s why people buy his dogs for $1500+ each. That’s why he ships dogs across North America and around the world.
YES, I STATED BEFORE I KNOW THE FATHERS FAMILY. THE LAST TIME I KNEW THE MOTHER HAVING RELATIONS IN PARKS FOR DRUG MONEY.
That’s just so sad. That poor little baby. I can’t imagine what his short life was like before it ended in such a horrible way.
I read an update yesterday. The dog is STILL alive at the animal shelter, they are doing ‘behavior assessments’ to determine if he is safe to reenter society. WHAT?????
This dog has a known history of aggression and has forfeited his ability to live in society. Even the former owner stated the dog should be put to sleep. Where is the sanity? Back to that damn ‘Save them all’ mentality
https://www.wave3.com/2019/07/23/indicted-following-dog-attack-that-killed-toddler/