Sadie Davila, 7-years old, was mauled and killed by a neighbor's unleashed pit bull.
Child Killed by Dog
Baton Rouge, LA – The owner of a dog that killed a 7-year old girl faces a count of negligent homicide, the East Baton Rouge Sheriff's Office confirmed. Erick Lopez, 20, was taken into custody Saturday morning, according to EBRSO spokeswoman Casey Rayborn Hicks. On Friday, emergency responders were dispatched to a home in the 25000 block of Kendalwood Road near Hoo Shoo Too Road shortly after 6:30 pm in response to a child being attacked by a dog.
According to arrest documents, the child had been playing outside of a relative’s home when a neighbor’s dog, identified by authorities as a pit bull, attacked her. A relative tried to intervene by hitting the dog with a walking cane, but the dog continued attacking. She was rushed to a local hospital, where she later died. "This is an awful, heart-breaking tragedy," Sheriff Sid Gautreaux said in a statement. "My heart goes out to this family, and they will remain in my prayers."
On Saturday, the East Baton Rouge Parish School System identified the girl as Sadie Davila, a first-grader at Woodlawn Elementary School.
The Advocate reports that medical staff at the hospital who treated her injuries said she suffered from "numerous dog bites to her face and substantial damage to her skull." EBRSO deputies and East Baton Rouge Animal Control officers located and impounded the dog, which was observed to have blood around his face and mouth area, according to the arrest affidavit. A "substantial" amount of blood was also observed in the yard where the young child had been playing.
The property where the dog resided is about 150 yards away from where the animal attacked. Lopez told investigators he was not home when the attack occurred and that he routinely allowed his dog to roam freely in the neighborhood. The affidavit also states there is no fence of barrier between the two homes. Investigators determined that Lopez "failed to confine or restrain his dog” which unlawfully entered a neighboring property and attacked a child resulting in her death.
In 2009, after the mauling deaths of Luna McDaniel and Michael Blaise Landry, legislation proposed by Rep. Rickey Hardy, known as The "Luna McDaniel and Michael 'Blaise' Landry Act," would allow prosecutors to charge all dog owners with negligent homicide after a fatal attack -- a crime that carries a prison sentence of up to five years and a fine of up to $5,000. The Louisiana legislature passed the bill unanimously in both chambers. Lopez was booked into Parish Prison.
A statement from the East Baton Rouge Parish School System says in part, “Sadie’s teacher, Grace Feucht remains heartbroken about the loss of a student who has made such an impact on her life. ‘Sadie was fierce and spunky, but she was also tender hearted and kind,’ Feucht reflected. ‘She brought energy and joy into my class every single time she stepped in the door.’" Feucht expects "our classroom to feel considerably emptier Monday without her precious presence.”
A statement from the family’s attorney, Samuel ‘Chuck’ Ward, Jr., of Ward Law, says in part, “this particular canine had been reported to authorities on previous occasions.” Ward added, “East Baton Rouge is no stranger to problems with pit bull proliferation. In 2006 the parish failed to pass breed specific regulation(s) of pit bull canines. The data shows that in 2007 56 pit bulls accounted for 61% of reported dangerous dog incidents, with the next highest being Rottweilers with 4."
View the DogsBite.org Google Map: Louisiana Fatal Pit Bull Maulings.Related articles:
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05/11/21: 2021 Dog Bite Fatality: Man Dies of Injuries After Pit Bull Owner Plays 'Victimhood'...
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.
Thank goodness they finally charging the owner of the evil pitbull. I’m glad that they actually give Eric a more serious crime then a pointless ticket.sorry sweet lovely Sadie may you rest in peace knowing that Eric will go to jail instead of getting off easy.
Get rid of the dog. He killed a child. They need to be banned. I had one and she was jealous of my children. Fed her and gave her plenty of love and she was territorial. Bye bye she went. I had humans and not an animal.
Very good to hear this first-hand. Glad you prioritized children!
I hope that you had her euthanized rather than passing her on to other people.
EVERY dog owner whose vicious mutt kills should be charged with negligent homicide AT LEAST. Every time.
Sweet remembrances from both the school superintendent and Sadie’s teacher.
Many thanks to Louisiana Rep. Rickey Hardy who 14 years ago led the groundwork legislation to charge dog owners with negligent homicide after a fatal dog attack.
When new dog owners get a dog from a rescue shelter, I hope they are getting 1-on-1 instruction and a booklet about basics of dog ownership. Basics like “ALWAYS lock up your dog when you are away from home.
ALWAYS use a leash and collar on your dog.
ALWAYS make sure you know where your dog is at all times.
NEVER let your dog run loose anywhere, even in your yard.”
Animal Control needs to provide the same instruction on dog licensing, especially for dangerous dogs.
Shelters and rescues generally tend to be well-versed in dog behaviour so unless wilfully blind to a dog’s flaws, they know they’re pit pushing. Sometimes they advertise those flaws with a wink and a nudge that the prospective owner must be either dog trainer extraordinaire or chock full of virtue to take on such a “pitful” rescue.
When rescues are shovelling dog/cat/child aggressive pitbulls on senior citizens they *know* exactly how dangerous it can be because nobody lives in a neighbourhood without any of the previous.
The sooner they start getting criminal charges for shovelling dangerous dogs, the sooner pitbulls are illegal to breed, buy, import, sell or give away, the sooner this madness will stop.
This needs to happen EVERY SINGLE TIME someone’s dog attacks, mauls or kills someone !
Not even a week into 2023 and BOOM.
PITBULL kills CHILD 🤬
This law needs to go NATIONWIDE for ANY dog that kills!
let it wander the neighborhood omfg?
I’m glad he is actually going to be punished. 5 yrs doesn’t seem long enough. Rest In Peace sweet girl.
According to an article – and video inside, FRIENDS of the owner have NO IDEA WhY ThEIR FRIEND IS IN JAIL ???!!!
Young man who said that also have no idea what is the front and what is te back of is head and should be covered with hair, but consider important for him to impose his arrogance and ignorance to all who saw the news… just awful
The owner’s friend who spoke on camera was remarkably clueless, which isn’t too surprising since he is very young. I think that’s why we need to ban pitbulls – we as a society should decide that these dogs are too dangerous, rather than leaving the safety of the community to the whim of people with bad judgement.
This is awful and so very, very preventable.
They should look into previous complaints about his dog being at large and charge any by-law officers that didn’t respond appropriately with negligence causing death too.
I hope poor Sadie’s family and friends will get the support they need. The last thing they need is this man’s friends publicly pondering in the news why their buddy is in jail. Someone is dead and it’s his fault. That’s why.
I’ve been attacked by a dog as a child, by dogs as a teen and narrowly missed being attacked by three pitbulls as an adult. I had no idea how blessed I was until I found this website.
Keeping pitbulls is reprehensible and amoral. Like all such actions, it ought to be illegal.
Watch the pit bull pushers run from this story like the cockroaches they are. Also need proof that this killer dog was put down. I don’t trust local animal control to be in charge of something so important.
The pit pushers won’t run from it.
They’ll claim the child waved a cookie, or pulled its tail, or sneezed and scared it.
They’ll be out there, shoving pajama-wearing pits and flower crowns over every discussion, on every forum and tweeting gifs in response.
They’ll hit every number on the pitnutter bingo card with glee.
Yes, they latch on to these stories and hang on as tenaciously as the dogs they love with such unwavering and inexplicable devotion. Such cases give them platforms to spew all the usual propaganda and the bingo cards will be covered in no time. The center “free” square on the bingo card will say “there’s no such thing as a pit bull” and they’ll happily mark it while wearing their “I ♥️ my pit bull” shirt and posting their “pit bulls are nanny dogs” memes. The cry will be that this fellow must have trained his dog to be violent, but in the same breath they’ll blame the little girl for provoking it. They’ll lament the “tragic” death of the dog, while saying the little girl must have done something to deserve it. They will find any way they can to capitalize on this death. And they’ll claim the dog in the very clear video isn’t really a pit bull but is a Lab mix, while also crying that the pit bull in the video is being handled too roughly by the animal control officer. In their world there is no room for logic, no room for sympathy at the needless loss of a child, and no room for accountability.
This is not only the direct result of another irresponsible pit owner but of authorities who allow dogs to run loose over and over without consequences to the owner.
So, he got a pitbull thinking there’d be no consequences for his choice of dangerous dog
Then he let that dog wander loose terrorizing his own neighbourhood, oblivious as to the risks that dog’s behaviour posed and thought there’d be no consequences.
Then it mauled and murdered a child.
Then there were consequences. Late consequences. Entirely preventable consequences.
Because nobody in that long chain of events that should have born some consequences of their actions, from the people who push pits on irresponsible owners to the authorities who could have euthanized that dog for running free and terrorizing the neighbourhood, wanted to take any responsibility.
What is more a measure of a person’s common decency than to do what they can to make people in their community be and feel safe? The opposite is equally true. What is more a measure of a person’s unacceptable lack of common decency than to do what makes people in their community feel and be unsafe?
Peter, we’re talking about people who have NO sense of common decency. None whatsoever.
Face it, there’s evil in the world and there are bad people. The rest of us need to be protected from them.
We hear fewer fatality stories about people owning lions than we do about pit bulls. The day this little girl was killed, around the same time, another child (11 years old) was viciously attacked by three pits. He made the “mistake” of riding his bike. One pulled him off his bike and the others went in for the kill. Thank God he was rescued, but he’s in critical condition with life altering injuries. As with so many pit bull victims, he’ll need years of grafting and plastic surgery. (His horrific story is on Animals 24-7) Children cannot play, ride a bike or visit a friend now without the risk of death or mauling. When I go to a park with my little grandchildren, I’m in fear; scanning the landscape. Always vigilant for one of these monsters to appear. Why would anyone own an animal that could potentially kill? For all of us who keep track of these tragedies, owning a lion seems safer. At least, they’re kept in cages and it’s a given one will likely kill you given the opportunity.
Teresa, a photo to help all realize how deadly a scalp attack is. The photo is of this 11-yr-old’s muddy face, which indicates how his scalp must have been impacted before and after the pitbulls ripped off 70% of it.
DBO subscribers will remember that Kyleen and Joslyn and Denise and others have suffered heartbreaking scalp attacks.
I am very concerned about this boy’s immune system being strong enough to fight the infection that must have developed on the tissue under his scalp. The pitbull saliva, dirt, and the exposure to the air have made this child’s fight very difficult.
https://nypost.com/2023/01/10/georgia-boy-11-missing-70-of-scalp-after-pit-bull-attack/
There are stick laws against owning lions after the Tiger King movie on Netflix came out. I don’t really think even a Tiger King type movie would have any effect on the pit bull owners, or the politicians who do the bidding of the highest paying “nonprofit” fighting dog organization and breeders. After all there’s big money for them in backing dog fighting!
Oh my Lord, I am so sorry for all the victims of dog mauling. I had no idea these terrible acts are so prevalent in today’s society. The story of Sadie breaks my heart, to say the least. A precious child succumbs to an attack by an unleashed pit bull. Such a senseless atrocity. Now I want to do some research into the dog rescues in my area, and what kinds of information they provide to those who adopt these killer dogs. I’m just so sorry to read all these horror stories. Rest in peace, precious Sadie. Lord knows you didn’t deserve to die at such a young age, in this way. I can only hope and pray that your death will lead to protection for others and will put the guilty parties where they belong. I have no more words except to thank Colleen for this website; it helps to spread awareness of such tragic incidents and the stories behind them.
Poor little grl. These pitbulls can maul a child to death within minutes. They attack like a wild animal trying to eat you! They cannot be scared off either, their owner can’t stop them, they have gone into mauling mode and won’t stop til they are exhausted. They attack horses and cattle too, much bigger prey. I cannot believe anyone can just own such animal.
“A 20-year-old Louisiana man was charged with negligent homicide after allowing his pet mountain lion to roam unrestrained in his Baton Rouge neighborhood…”
https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2023/jan/21/more-death-and-mauling/
MASTERSON ONLINE: More death and mauling
by Mike Masterson
That’s what pit bulls do u cannot train an animal not to do what it was intentionally bred to do – u can’t train a border collie not to herd its really so simple to understand but this society has bed brainwashed (yes that’s right BRAINWASHED) by that Ceasars Milan and animal planet shame on him and shame on animal planet for giving him a platform
In high-school I took 5 credits of agricultural science and animal husbandry was generally covered and basic animal psychology and evolutionary process and breeding animals for specific desired traits and the culling process of any traits not considered goal…
I know not every1 has the same countryside public education I had however looking back-alot of my public education was really just reinforcement and application of basic principles and common sense
Been not bed-stupid autocorrect u really gotta watch it
Pit nuts will say ‘treat each dog individually’. Yeah? Well this one needs a bullet..