A 7-month old boy is dead after being mauled by a family pit bull in Akron, Ohio.
No Charges Expected
UPDATE 08/11/20: Authorities have still not identified the 7-month old boy mauled to death by a family pit bull last Friday. The child's great-grandmother, 77-years old, was holding the baby when the dog fatally attacked, Akron police said. An ambulance transported the boy to Akron Children’s Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The family dog, a 7-year old pit bull, was taken into custody by Summit County Animal Control. Police say that no criminal charges will be filed.
08/08/20: Baby Killed by Family Dog
Akron, OH - A baby boy is dead after being mauled by a pit bull, according to Akron police. At about 3:48 pm Friday, officers were dispatched to a home in the 1300 block of South Hawkins Avenue in West Akron to assist paramedics at the scene. Officers found the baby and the grandmother had been injured by the dog. The child was transported to Akron Children's Hospital, where he died. The grandmother's injuries were minor; she refused treatment at the scene.
The child was under the care of his grandmother when the dog attacked, police said. It is unclear if the child lived at the home or if he was visiting his grandmother's home. No details about the circumstances of the attack were available late Friday. Summit County Animal Control seized the animal. An autopsy will be conducted on the child Saturday, according to the Summit County Medical Examiner's Office. The boy will likely be identified when the cause of death is released.
This child's death by a family pit bull comes after a string of similar deaths this summer. Brice Sanders, 2-years old, was killed by a pit bull while visiting a home in California. Jonah Jellison, 1-year old, was killed by a loose pit bull in Texas. Marley Wilander, 1-year old, was killed by a pit bull during the night while her family attended a July 4th party in Illinois. Scarlett Pereira, 1-year old, was killed by a pit bull while under the care of her grandparents in Rhode Island on July 16.
The other fatal pit bull mauling that occurred in Ohio this year is the death of 4-month old McKenzie Terwell in Dayton, Ohio in January. We expect criminal charges in the coming months. At the time of the baby's death, the mother was asleep on the couch after taking three prescription medications. When the baby's father returned home, he found the infant dead on the floor. Before police arrived, the father told officers he had thrown a Marijuana bong into the kitchen trashcan.
A neighbor took a photograph while Akron police were at the scene of the fatal pit bull mauling.
View the DogsBite.org Google Map: Ohio Fatal Pit Bull Maulings.Related articles:
01/15/20: 2020 Dog Bite Fatality: Family Pit Bull Kills 4-Month Old Baby Girl in Dayton, Ohio
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.
The only details that are operative in this case: a dangerous canine and a human being were in proximity to each other. Anytime that happens, this is what can happen. Virtually every human being on earth is in constant risk of this grave threat. Those very few human beings that do not live every moment under the risk of this grave threat are in a very envious position.
The family pit bull strikes again while serving as a nanny dog at grandma’s house. Of course, we all know, you should never leave a child alone with any dog because any dog could do this. However, now that I think about it, the baby may have stopped breathing and the nanny dog realized he may have been on the verge of SIDS and tried to save him by shaking him. This was clearly a mistake because pit bulls would never hurt a fly.
*Sarcasm font off.
You forgot their go to answer, “it’s not actually a pit bull.” Pits are good with kids, this dog killed a kid ergo it isn’t a pit. Doesn’t matter what the owner, breeder and DNA test say , a REAL pit bull would not do this. Must have been a chihuahua in disguise.
If that doesn’t work scream “Blame the deed, not the breed” a few times even though it makes even less sense than usual in this case, call everyone racist and then log off. They probably need to crate and rotate their inmates, I mean fur babies anyway.
Another young life lost by a “family dog”. I’m so sick of it. Why is that when there are hundreds of breeds out there that can’t kill babies, people insist on keeping dogs that easily and constantly kill babies?! These dogs do not belong anywhere near children, period!
To date, no setter has ever killed a child or an adult in the USA
So true. Why so many excuses. Children are Dying because of Pit Bulls. How many more Deaths?
It is so incredibly sad to read about the death of a child. I am sorry for the family’s pain. It doesn’t matter if the family denies it was a pit bull. It doesn’t matter if the family says this was the first time it showed aggression. What matters is another life is lost. Pit bulls, pit bull types, pit bull look-alikes, pit bull mixes, designer pit bulls, WHATEVER, have the innate power to MAIM or KILL. They rip scalps off. They crush tracheas. They tear limbs off. I pray anyone reading this blog who still believes in that tired old cliche, “It’s not the breed; it’s how they are raised,” will WAKE UP. Pit bulls are powerful, prey-driven, and unpredictable. Posting cute pictures on facebook of pit bulls sleeping peacefully next to a baby or looking goofy in a baseball cap does not make them less powerful, less prey-driven, less unpredictable. If people insist on championing this type of breed, there is just no guarantee that they or their loved ones will not end up as another sad, sad story on this blog to be scrutinized by people who hate the potential viciousness of this breed and judge the owners of this breed for being ignorant and irresponsible. If someone is reading this who has lost a loved one to a pit bull, I am so sorry for your loss.
Great reply, thankyou so much, so many intelligent people on this highly important site
Nothing to say anymore other than all party’s involved, belong in Prison for willful endangerment and manslaughter !
Another baby.
When are coroners, police, mortuaries, plastic surgeons, health officials, the surgeon general, pediatricians, gutless veterinarians, dog trainers, animal control officials and other involved services going to come out with some powerful public statements shaming pitbull owners and warning of the dangers of ownership?
How many babies does it take for these people to sack up against the pitbull nutters and announce that pitbulls and powerbreeds are NOT “family dogs”?
Still not much information on this latest death. Only that the grandmother is 77 years old. What is she doing with a killer in her house? There’s been several cases lately of children being left with irresponsible relatives. Another symptom of the covid and pit plague. Parents with no daycare and seemingly no common sense.
Yeah, that baffled me, too, Terry.
What 77 year old woman, even in tremendous shape, is capable of walking and training a power-dog unless she has experience in dog training with specific collars…in which case, she would know better than to bring a pitbull, home?
Who owned the pitbull?
It’s reported that it was grandma’s dog. Another child (17 months) was horribly mauled over the weekend. That child was at his grandmother’s house, but it was another’s relative’s dog. The mother of the child is already defending pit bulls (comparing it to racial discrimination UGH!) while her baby boy is in a hospital bed with possible brain damage. All of this is beyond me. This site is one of the few places I find sanity when it comes to this issue.
Why in the name of God would anyone over seventy get a pitbull? If granny had a beagle, or a spaniel or a companion dog, this all would have been avoided. What nutter talked granny into a Pitbull?
Dunno about you but most of the people my age I know…that’s the last breed of dog they’d choose.
The mother needs a whack upside the head. Total pitbull nutter, there. Delusional. Her baby is in the hospital and she’s defending the dog? Normal people *shoot* the dog. Or at least, haul it in and have it euthanized.
I’ve been reading the Reddit on banning pitbulls. Lord have mercy…the attacks come in daily. Someone’s dog, someone’s kid, grannies etc. (on there it’s not always human deaths that get posted there, they include pet and human maulings).
The health authorities should just name them Preventable Health Menace #1. Someone can get COVID or run over by a car, or have a heart attack by accident. Buying a pitbull is not an accident–it’s a completely avoidable health menace.
Closest we got to an update so far, Colleen. Apparently, (harder facepalm) it was the *great* grandma of the baby.
https://www.beaconjournal.com/news/20200810/police-say-no-charges-in-pit-bull-attack-that-killed-baby
My take? Euthanize the dog already. Although I expect they’ll keep it alive for a week to see if it develops rabies, if it hasn’t had its shots.
Or they offer it for adoption, using the manipulative language that DBO highlighted in that July 31, 2020 post.
Small correction-the newspaper article states she was a great-grandmother. Having a pit bull In proximity to an infant is like leaving the infant in a hot car. Child endangerment.
I can’t think of any way to get pit bulls and their ilk under control except maybe Communities should start requiring all dog owners to start carrying bite insurance. Like all insurance, the higher the risk of serious injury, the higher the premium. What else can we do?
Or, you must have a dog license (for a nominal fee) which already exists most places…
….but the new catch is you don’t get the dog license until you can prove your dog can handle the basic five commands (heel, sit, down, come off lead–because leashes can break– and stay. Stand is optional) and a stranger can handle the dog and it can walk quietly into a room and down a busy street with another strange dog. Doesn’t have to like the person or the other dog–it just has to follow commands while they are present and physically close.
That would get rid of most of the dogs I see on a daily basis…or force their owners to understand some basic dog manners and what their responsibility as dog owners, consists of.
Pitbulls don’t get licensed. They’re simply not allowed in residential areas.
Unless they are somehow incapacitated, we don’t allow children or teenagers to run around screaming in strangers’ faces or lunging at people with baseball bats. Not even small children. Can you imagine that behavior and the parents saying, “Oh he just does that. We got them at a year old and we’re just going to let them do that for the next 10 years.”
Charge all owners / handlers of dogs that severely injured or kill people, other dogs, any domestic animals, with felony animal neglect and abuse.
Immediately remove all dogs from the property. It must be all dogs to prevent them blaming an innocent but least favorite dog in order to save the dangerous but prized dog.
Found guilty, they are all added to the FBI list of convicted animal abusers. Then they are all banned from any dog ownership or contact for life.
The FBI currently tracks convicted animal abusers, they can easily keep track of these.
Signs must be posted: No Dogs OW w in.
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Signs must be posted: No dogs allowed.