Posted on September 19, 2022 by Colleen Lynn

2022 Dog Bite Fatality: Woman, 88, Dies of Injuries, Child Severely Injured, After Pair of Family Pit Bulls Attack

Golden Dog Owners Convicted of Felony Charge After Deadly Dog Attack

Golden Police Department press conference after a pair of pit bulls attacked two family members.

Dog Owners Plead Guilty
UPDATE 04/09/23: In early March, Kayla Mooney, 33, pleaded guilty to two counts of unlawful ownership of a dangerous dog, a felony and a misdemeanor, in connection to the death of 88-year old Mary Gehring. Mooney's two pit bulls viciously attacked Gehring in September. Mooney received a stipulated two-year deferred judgment, with an agreement of 100 hours of public service and no dog ownership for one year. Mooney must also enroll in a dog ownership class.

Mooney co-owned the two pit bulls with her partner Victor Bentley, 29. In April, Bentley also pleaded guilty to the same two charges. Bentley was sentenced similarly with a two-year deferred judgment, 100 hours of public service, no dog ownership for one year, and enrollment into a dog ownership class. During the hearing, Bentley's defense attorney stated that his own pit bull had never been aggressive to people before and had only gotten into fights with other dogs twice.

10/24/22: Pit Bull Owners Charged
The First Judicial District Attorney's Office announced today that charges have been filed against the owners of two pit bulls that killed an 88-year old woman and injured a young boy. The attack occurred on September 14 in Golden. Kayla Mooney, 33, and Victor Bentley, 29, are the alleged owners of the two 7-year old pit bulls that inflicted the attacks. Both face felony charges for the unlawful ownership of a dangerous dog resulting in death, which is a strict liability crime.

Kayla Mooney is the mother of the 12-year old boy who was injured by the pit bulls and the granddaughter of Mary Gehring, who died of her injuries. Mooney is facing four charges: two felony counts for the unlawful ownership of a dangerous dog, and two misdemeanor counts for the unlawful ownership of a dangerous dog. Victor Bentley, Mooney's boyfriend, faces a pair of charges: one felony and one misdemeanor count for the unlawful ownership of a dangerous dog.

KMGH-TV reports on the affidavit, which recounts the events before, during and after the attack, including how police officers "used themselves as human shields" to rescue the woman," who was so horribly injured that KMGH-TV omitted some injury details. Though they did state that one of her arms was severed in the attack and would need amputation. Gehring also had "significant facial damage" and had one eye removed. She died while still hospitalized on September 17.

The coroner's office listed her cause of death as "cardiopulmonary arrest" due to "complications of extensive bite injuries" and "dog attack."

According to the affidavit, the attack began after Gehring, the 12-year old boy, and his younger sister arrived at the home to pick up some books for church. The boy summoned the dogs to put them into another room so they would not scratch Gehring if they got too excited. But the dogs never made it inside that room. Bentley's dog (named "Knoxville" according to his Facebook page) hid under a table. When the boy tried to pet the dog, to coax it out, it bit him "just a tiny bit."

That quickly escalated into the dog clamping onto the boy's ankle and not letting go. This is when Gehring stepped in. She tried to pull on the dog's collar to get him to release. After the boy kicked the dog's head, it did release. The boy ran outside to the porch and tried to close the screen door. The boy's sister called 911 at this time and Gehring, now outside too, told the boy to run. He fled to a neighbor's home. That is when both pit bulls began the full-fledged attack on Gehring.

Details in the Arrest Affidavit

One day after we reported the criminal charges, we were able to access the arrest affidavits for Mooney and Bentley. What immediately stood out was the detective stating, "It should be noted that I am familiar with Robbie and Kayla, as Robbie owns Denver West Towing and Kayla works for him. Denver West Towing is the contracted tow company for the Golden Police Department." It is also noteworthy that both pit bulls were male and that Knoxville had a history of "accidents."

"Victor said Knoxville had most recently been to Mead Veterinary clinic (Mead Veterinary Medical Center), and he took him there for a broken leg about a year ago. Knoxville was also blind in his left eye due to an accident with a firework, and he had a foggy film over the eye," states the affidavit. Two years before the deadly attack, 7-year old Knoxville escaped his home and was found on a cattle ranch in the south Platteville area. - Arrest Affidavit for Victor Bentley

A necropsy was performed on both dogs at the Colorado State University Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratories. There was "no clear evidence of human remains" found in Knoxville. However, Knoxville had vomited at the scene. "In the pile of vomit that Officer Fink observed come from Knoxville, a piece of flesh was found," states the affidavit. Human remains were found inside Diablo's stomach, including, "scalp, human hair and two pieces of dark-colored clothing."

The findings for Diablo are significant, as both children in the home state in interviews with the detective that Diablo "attacked Knoxville to protect the family." The hero dog, Diablo, belonging to Mooney, "was biting Knoxville on the neck and anywhere else he could get him" and that "Diablo was all chewed up" and "all torn apart" due to fighting with Knoxville. The diagnostic laboratory, however, disagreed, stating: "there is no evidence to show the dogs fought or injured each other."

Download: The Jefferson County arrest affidavits for Kayla Mooney and Victor Bentley.

Multi-victim attack Golden, CO pit bulls

The male pit bull "Knoxville" that belonged to Victor Bentley "went missing" in 2020, but he was later found. "We found him ... He just needed some cow therapy from Magness Farms." It's unclear how that activity -- potentially harassing cattle -- did not result in the dog being shot.

09/19/22: Police Press Release: Dog Attack
Golden, CO - On September 14, a pair of pit bulls attacked a 12-year old boy and his grandmother at their home. The attack occurred in the 15700 block of West 1st Drive around 3:35 pm. Arriving officers found a "blood trail into the home" and observed both dogs attacking the woman in the backyard. Officers "acted decisively putting themselves between the animals and victim," Sergeant Ben Salentine said. Officers "used themselves as human shields" to rescue the woman, he said.

Police confirmed the grandmother died on September 18 from injuries sustained in the attack. The corner has identified her as Mary Gehring.

The 12-year old boy sustained bite injuries prior to the arrival of police, Salentine said during a press conference. He fled to a neighbor's home. The child was later flown to Children's Hospital. The woman was taken to St. Anthony hospital with critical injuries. Both dogs were taken into custody. One of the dogs was euthanized due to injuries it sustained at the scene; officers were forced to Tase the dogs and use "less-lethal" shotguns, but the tactics were "not effective."

Police said the dogs were "known to the two victims of the attack." One neighbor told CBS News Colorado the dogs lived at the home. The surviving pit bull is being housed at Foothills Animal Shelter. The owner of the dogs remains under investigation, police said. "I can confirm that the dogs belonged at the residence. But as far as the particular owners, everything’s under investigation," Salentine said last week. The dogs had no history of complaints, police said.

"I just want to give a little bit of information regarding an incident that occurred yesterday afternoon just after 3:30 in the afternoon in the in a location in the Southeast corner of our city. We had a call dispatch as an animal bite, which very quickly and rapidly evolved into an animal attack. Officers immediately responded to the scene -- a very chaotic scene. Followed a blood trail into the home. Observed through a backyard window to larger animals over an elderly female that was in the backyard. Our officers acted heroically quickly and decisively, putting themselves between the animals and the victim that was in critical condition in inside the backyard. Officers used themselves as human shields, while they were able to conduct a rescue operation, removing that elderly woman from the backyard into the kitchen, where she was immediately transported to a local area hospital. As this was all going on, there was also a child that was bitten prior to the officer's arrival. That child was at a neighbor's house. He was also treated immediately and transported to a local area hospital." - Sergeant Ben Salentine with the Golden Police Department, September 15, 2022 Press Conference

Multi-victim attack Golden, CO pit bulls Mary Gehring

Home where a pair of pit bulls brutally attacked two family members on September 14, 2022.

Baseline reporting requirements:
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.

Posted on September 14, 2022 by Colleen Lynn

2022 Dog Bite Fatality: 32-Year Old Man Killed by 'Alligator' Pit Bull in Polk County, Tennessee

Rusty Shane Burris, 32, was killed by an "alligator" pit bull in Polk County, Tennessee.

Pit Bull Kills Man
Polk County, TN - Over the weekend, a dog killed a man in Polk County, according to the Polk County Sheriff's Office. The fatal attack occurred early Sunday morning at a home on Swallows Drive in Old Fort. Deputies arrived at the scene just after 2:00 pm with EMS personnel. Deputies found 32-year old Rusty Shane Burris unconscious and unresponsive. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Sheriff Steve Ross said the canine, a pit bull, was owned by the man's family.

Burris suffered severe injuries to both arms. The dog also had a history of aggression. "He was defending himself from the dog, and that's why he got so many bites on the arms," Sheriff Ross told WTVC. "The dog had been aggressive before, and it was on a cable, but at some point during the night it broke the cable and came after Mr. Burris," Ross said. The family secured the pit bull in a car after the attack. They asked for the dog to be euthanized, which a deputy did at the scene.

The Polk County Sheriff's Office said they found Burris behind the family's home, next to the fence line. Sheriff Ross said the dog bite fatality was a "first" for his agency. "We have the occasional dog bites, but this is a first for us, as far as someone actually dying from a dog bite. This was a very brutal attack," Ross said. The sheriff had hoped to hand the dog over to an agency for euthanasia, but none could take the animal. On scene euthanasia was the only safe option.

"Alligator" Pit Bull

WDEF reported the dog was an "alligator" pit bull. This presumably refers to CH Plumber's Alligator bloodline. Though, not to be confused with CH (Crenshaw's) Rodriguez' Gator bloodline. Both are serious fighting dog bloodlines in the south. However, many breeders falsely claim "Alligator" or "Gator" bloodlines. "Gator Pit Bull is a common name used by backyard breeders to boost their marketing appeal, as well as 'gator mouth pit bull,'" states Goodpitbulls.com.

Back in 2017, the owner of two family pit bulls that killed a child in Georgia claimed one dog was a "Jeep Rascal and Gator Gotti. No mixing in that bloodline at all (sic)." We will not begin to explain how implausible that is or how full of marketing nonsense that is. But it seems to be common bragging rights among some pit bull owners in the south to claim to own a "Jeep" or "Alligator" or "Gator" from a famous fighting dog bloodline that such individuals are unlikely to have access to.

Adult Male Age Group

Over the 17-year period of 2005 to 2021, very few men in the 30 to 39 year-old age group have been victims of fatal dog attacks. In fact, there have only been 10 men, according to our records, within the approximate 621 total dog bite fatalities during this period. 80% of these 10 deaths involved pit bulls. Half of these attacks, 50%, involved the dog killing its owner or a household member. These rare fatal attacks of men in their 30s are disproportionately inflicted by pit bulls.

A family member who lives at the same location as the victim shows a male pit bull on her Facebook page as recently as July. Pit bulls from earlier years are seen on her page as well.

View the DogsBite.org Google Map: Tennessee Fatal Pit Bull Maulings.

Posted on September 8, 2022 by Colleen Lynn

Doctor Discusses Risk Factors for Bringing a Dog into Home and Dog Bite Injury Studies with Breed-Related Findings

Dr. John Fuhrman discusses the risks of dog ownership and dog bite injury studies.

Discussion with Doctor
Prescott, AZ - In July, Dr. John Fuhrman of the Fuhrman Clinic published an informative post and video that discusses risk factors for families that are considering bringing a dog into their home; dog bite injury studies; and breed-related findings within those studies. Some of the medical studies discussed appear in our Level 1 trauma center table. Fuhrman also discusses studies pertaining to pit bull identification and references several high court rulings on the matter.

We encourage you to watch the entire video, which is 30 minutes in length. It is valuable to listen to a doctor discuss medical study findings in an informal, conversational manner. Such findings are not always easily interpretable to lay persons. Dr. Fuhrman emphasizes that children (50%, 1 in 2) are at a higher risk of sustaining a dog bite in their lifetime than adults (20%, 1 in 5) and that "most victims are involved in normal, non-provoking activities before the dog attacks."

About 70% of all dog attacks are from a dog known to the victim, he writes, not the proverbial stray. Most bites also occur inside or near the family's home, particularly bites and attacks to children. "Dog familiarity may confer a false sense of safety," states a 2015 pediatric dog bite injury study. "Unfortunately, familiarity may lead to injury," states a 2017 pediatric dog bite injury study. A 2018 pediatric study found that "parental presence was reported in 43.6% of cases."

"Infants are 4 times more likely to be bitten by a family dog. When infants are attacked, usually the baby is asleep. There is nothing less provocative than a sleeping baby, yet dogs attack them." -Dr. Fuhrman

Breed-Related Findings

What was almost "universally found in the 17 or so papers that I looked at," he states about his literature review, is that "when humans went to the emergency rooms, and when humans went to the operating room because they needed a surgery from a dog attack, and when humans died because of a dog attack, pit bull-type dogs were more responsible for those things than any other type of dog," he states. There were other breeds, but "pit bull was stand out number one."

Dr. Fuhrman then proceeds to quote breed-related findings from over a dozen scientific medical studies, some of which found that pit bulls inflict the highest prevalence of injuries and the highest severity of injuries, compared to other dog breeds. "Of the more than 8 different breeds identified, one-third were caused by pit bull terriers and resulted in the highest rate of consultation (94%) and had 5 times the relative rate of surgical intervention," states a 2015 dog bite injury study.

Pit Bull Identification Studies

Dr. Fuhrman next discusses key "Find the pit bull" studies and points out their flaws. The first one, (Hoffman, 2014), is based on 20 photographs. "No actual dogs were shown to the participants. Instead, one photo of each dog was shown. The photos were not standardized. They were taken at different angles and some do not include the dog’s whole body," he writes. Participants self-selected to take the survey for the study too. "Better to select participants randomly," he writes.

He notes that the second pit bull identification study, (Olson, 2015), coded the dog "pit bull-type" if results from the DNA test only showed 12.5% of the breed's composition. "I think this standard is too high," he writes. "If the dog is 1/8 pit bull by genetic testing, then the authors count that dog as a pit bull. I would not expect the staff to look at a dog that is 1/8 pit bull and identify it as pit bull." Yet, even with this 1/8 DNA standard, "most of the time staff agreed with each other," he writes.

Dr. Fuhrman also questions the conflict-of-interest statement in the Olson study, "None of the authors of this paper has a financial or personal relationship with other people or organizations that could inappropriately influence or bias the content of the paper." Yet, the study was funded by Maddie’s Fund. "I invite you to go to Maddie’s Fund’s website, search for 'pit bull,' and decide for yourself if the search results show any bias about pit bulls at Maddie’s Fund," he writes.

Even as a newbie into the area of pit bull identification studies, which often have "self-selecting" study participants, flawed study designs, use non-standardized 2-dimensional photographs, and often lack conflict-of-interest statements, Dr. Fuhrman is clear that something is amiss. Welcome to the world of "Find the pit bull" studies, where conflict-of-interest statements may be wholly omitted and the studies are funded, co-authored or both by pit bull advocacy in secrecy.

Case in point, Dr. Fuhrman was unaware that one study he cited, (Reese, 2020), was co-authored by Laura A. Reese, a pit bull advocate, who failed to disclose her conflicts of interest, "The authors have no conflict of interest in this project," states the study. Reese co-authored a policy paper in 2016, Pit Bulls, Perceptions, And Public Policy,1 laden with decades old pit bull propaganda, and wrote an editorial condemning breed bans after four pit bulls killed a boy in Detroit in 2015.

In Conclusion

Dr. Fuhrman concludes by summarizing risk factors for families that are considering bringing a dog into their home for the first time and what breed or type of dog that should be. As he states, the research suggests, even as secondary trends that, "It seems that female dogs are a lower risk for attacking" and, "It seems that dogs which are not chained up are a lower risk for attacking." What should be strongly emphasized, however, is that pit bulls are inflicting the most severe injuries.

"Thing that really should be underlined is that pit bulls are the number one dog for sending people to the emergency room. Sending people to the operating room. And, sending people to the morgue." - Dr. Fuhrman

Dr. Fuhrman also reminds parents deciding on whether to bring a dog into their home that there are many breeds to choose from. "I mean even if it is just the top ten offenders, you scratch those off the list, you are still left with over 200 breeds to choose from," he states. "So, knowing what you know now, along with all of the other information that you are going to use to make your decision. But knowing the medical literature statements on this, what breed would you choose?" he asks.

Lastly, we don't think Dr. Fuhrman studied the pit bull identification studies too deeply. He did not need to. His insights show that a scientific mind just scratching the surface of these studies can find a lot of flaws and false conclusions. We doubt he looked deeply into Maddie’s Fund either, who strives for a "no-kill nation now." But he quickly realized that the funding source for the Olson identification study, "made possible by support from Maddie’s Fund" was not neutral.2

"Pit bull dogs possess unique and readily identifiable physical and behavioral traits which are capable of recognition both by dog owners of ordinary intelligence and by enforcement personnel." - Ohio v. Anderson, 57 Ohio St. 3d 168 - Ohio: Supreme Court 1991

1Ironically, Reese's policy paper points readers to the online test, "Pick the Pit," which was created circa 2011 and is now defunct. These online quizzes, "Find the pit bull," were the first iteration of pit bull identification games using unstandardized and deceptive photos. These online quizzes then began being recreated in studies, where participants were recruited via convenience samples and/or individuals who self-selected to take the online survey.
2Dr. Julie Levy, who co-authored the pit bull identification study with Olson is a faculty member of the Maddie’s Shelter Medicine Program at the University of Florida in Gainesville, where the study was carried out. Maddie’s Fund did not just fund the Olson/Levy study, they established and underwrite the shelter medicine program. The Olson/Levy study was also part of a "bigger umbrella study," as noted in the study, involving a large Internet survey of 5922 self-identified "dog-experts" that were shown photographs of the same dogs used in the Olson/Levy study and asked to determine breed. That portion of the study was funded by the National Canine Research Council, a subsidiary of Animal Farm Foundation, both are primary members of the American pit bull lobby.

Posted on September 1, 2022 by Colleen Lynn

Teenage Victim Shares Chilling Account of a Family Pit Bull Mauling; She Suffered Devastating Injuries

In late June, a teenage girl sustained life-altering injuries from a family pit bull.

DogsBite.org - In late August, we were contacted by Nicole Baker (a pseudonym), 16-years old, who was attacked by a family pit bull and sustained devastating injuries. The dog latched onto her leg and tore out a large chunk of tissue, tendons and muscles, leaving a large, gaping hole in her leg. The attack occurred on June 26 at 10:26 am. At that time, her step-father Zach was home, along with her mother, who was upstairs, her two younger brothers and her grandfather.

The attack occurred days before her sweet sixteen birthday, Nicole said. The family pit bull had been living in the household for over a year. She said her family acquired the dog when it was 11 weeks old from a UKC breeder in Virginia, specifically Sudden Impact Kennel, which breeds American pit bull terriers and American bullies. Nicole has shared her chilling account of the brutal attack in her own words with us, along with photographs of the catastrophic injury to her lower leg.

hi my names nicole i’m 16 years old and i was attacked june 26th right before my sweet 16 i’m trying to get my story out…

june 26th i was attacked. there was a small propane torch leaking in my room, i was freaking out because me and my mom have always been afraid of that stuff, running out of my room, the nauseating smell of propane slapping me in the face, then i open the gate at the end of the stairs and heard the growl, the growl i knew wasn’t a playful growl, the look in his eyes that i’ve never seen before, as i quickly turned so he wouldn’t get my face or throat, i tried to get back up the stairs before he actually locked onto me but i couldn’t, he got my leg, the dog that’s been in the same house with me for more than a year just hanging off my leg, ripping, tearing parts of my leg that i didn’t even know could hurt, feeling his teeth graze my bone, watching zach sweating and stressing trying to get what we thought to be one of our protectors completely attack me, no one could have predicted this, it was extremely terrifying, so so painful in the moment but it’s still no one’s fault. sitting there on those stairs screaming “i’m fucked” over and over again, thinking in my head there goes my plans of getting my permit on my birthday, as i’m watching my blood cover the floor, walls, and doors, going through towel after towel soaked in my blood, muscle, tendons, etc., all i could think about is how did this just happen? why did this just happen? did i do something wrong? why me? but the other part of me was so thankful it didn’t happen to one of my little brothers. let’s say the ambulance just arrives, i’m still frantic, they’re all trying to calm me down but i can’t calm down i just can’t, they undo the belt zach put on to act as a tourniquet, then they did the actual tourniquet i remember the exact pinch i felt, that was the only feeling i had left at that point my leg was numb, i was in shock, but i felt that little pinch from the tourniquet. they couldn’t fit a stretcher at the place i was in the house, i knew i couldn’t walk my leg had a chunk gone out of it, i was scared so scared, i was scared to go in the transport chair, i was scared to bend my leg, i was scared of it all. finally i’m in the ambulance but wait why haven’t we left to the hospital yet? another 10 minutes and we’re still waiting the blood isn’t even under control, another 20 minutes 2 more ambulances show up i’m thinking what the hell is going on, i need to be seen, i need my leg fixed, why are we still waiting in my driveway? a paramedic comes in the ambulance i was in, still hyperventilating scared didn’t know what was gonna happen or what was going on, the paramedic puts two ivs in my arm, i bleed from one of them, just seeing more of my blood come out even just from a small iv made me want to lose it, i thought come on i’ve already lost enough haven’t i? ivs are done, they hook me up to fluids in one and then they were getting pain medicine ready, two doses of fentanyl they gave me, that made me even more nervous, that’s killed so many people, i looked at zach outside of the ambulance trying to make eye contact enough with him so he could see i was scared to have that medicine, it didn’t do much at all, it didn’t help the pain like they said it would it just made me feel shitty, so they gave me morphine next via iv that barely touched the pain, at this point we’re almost to glens falls hospital, i was scared to go there i didn’t think they’d be able to work on it, so we get to glens falls hospital, i get in a room, does vitals and everything, then comes in the doctor with a few nurses. when i tell you he picked up one piece of gauze didn’t even see the entire wound he set that piece of gauze down so quick and stepped back, looked at me and said you’re gonna have to go to albany, my heart dropped even though i was already expecting it, i didn’t really wanna hear it, i knew i was gonna need immediate surgery, i was so so scared, i had never had surgery, never put under or nothing, i was terrified, so the ambulance shows up to bring me to albany, that was just a shitty ride i was still in pain, nauseous, it felt like that driver just hit every pot hole they saw, definitely didn’t make the journey any better, finally at albany, i don’t remember much from the beginning honestly at albany, but i remember right before going into surgery, i was terrified, i had zach take my piercings out because i had to, i was so scared to not be with my mom and zach they had been by my side the entire time, all my piercings were out, i start to break down because it was getting closer and closer to go into surgery, they finally wheel me away from mamma, i was so scared the only thing i remember is being wheeled into the operating room then i just felt the tears getting heavier, i have no memory of anything after that, hours later i wake up all curled up in a ball with a blanket in a dark room by myself instant tears again, i didn’t know what was going on, i knew but i didn’t, i didn’t know where everyone was, i felt alone for the first time through this entire thing. to me what felt like a hour was probably only like 15 minutes i finally get wheeled out on the stretcher to see everyone, i was so scared and happy and just so full of all emotions, i was so happy to see everyone, my mamma my zachypoo, my sissy and, sethypoo were all waiting for me, all i cared about was how surgery went, within those hours after surgery i had talked to so many different doctors, groups of surgeons, and nurses i couldn’t tell any of them apart. after stuff finally calmed down i was attached to a stupid tube wound vac, in a room with my mamma, zach, sierra, and seth and everything just hits, my brain is going crazy thinking how did this happen, thinking how are we gonna afford all of this, psh the ambulance bill alone is over 2 thousand, what about the multiple surgeries i have to go through, not even that what about gas money for my mom and zach to get back and forth to see my brothers, how’s zach gonna get back and forth to work? but i can’t let them know i’m worrying about that stuff. time goes on the nights almost over everything’s becoming more and more real, the feeling in my stomach won’t go away, i can’t get the thought of it all out of my head. why me i keep wondering, how did this happen? it was like i didn’t know it was happening but at the same time it was all so real. - Nicole, August 24, 2022

When Nicole sits on the stairs screaming, "I’m fucked" over and over again, "thinking in my head there goes my plans of getting my permit on my birthday," you can see how the brain misfires when the body undergoes acute trauma. The brain cannot compute the severe damage while it shuts down vital functions to enter into survival mode. Also as she sits, "I'm watching my blood cover the floor, walls, and doors, going through towel after towel soaked in my blood," she said.

Nicole was in traumatic shock, heavily bleeding, most of her leg was numb, but she remembers "the exact pinch I felt," when emergency responders applied the tourniquet. "They undo the belt Zach put on to act as a tourniquet, then they did the actual tourniquet," she wrote. "I remember the exact pinch I felt, that was the only feeling I had left at that point my leg was numb." Amazingly, a team of doctors were able to save her lower leg. Amputations could be more common.

We have seen what Nicole describes next after many severe and fatal pit bull attacks. The first hospital is not equipped to treat the injury. The patient must be transferred to a Level 1 trauma center, in this case, located in Albany. "Then comes in the doctor with a few nurses. When I tell you he picked up one piece of gauze, didn’t even see the entire wound, he set that piece of gauze down so quick and stepped back, looked at me and said you’re gonna have to go to Albany."

Current Condition

Nicole said that she is currently starting physical therapy and that her wounds are almost closed. She still can't put much weight on that leg. She said that "some days are harder, some are easier" and that "each day's different." She added that she has made good progress. "I’ve come really far since the beginning," she wrote. Most of the time she has to keep her leg elevated, so her daily activities are limited. She said that doctors told her she will have to learn to walk again.

The attack was only two months ago. It's too soon for doctors to know how the next couple of years will go. However, doctors believe the pain will increase as her leg heals because of the inner damage to the muscles and tendons. Looking at her photographs, one can only imagine how intense that pain will be. Nicole said she also sustained severe nerve damage in her lower leg and her big toe is paralyzed. Nicole has suffered all of these physical horrors by the age of sixteen.

"Chunks" of Flesh

We recently wrote about the Tya Lucas attack. Her dominant arm was "more or less eaten off" by a family pit bull in May. She shares short videos of her recovery on her TikTok page. We wrote then, that a "family dog," an XL pit bull in her case, "ate her arm," consuming chunks of flesh. The pit bull in Nicole's home, "latched onto her leg and tore out a large chunk of tissue, tendons … leaving a large hole in her leg." She even felt the dog's teeth graze her lower leg bones.

We didn't ask Nicole what the scene looked like after the attack. But she did describe the scene while sitting on the staircase, saying that blood covered the "floor, walls and doors." We imagine the scene was as gruesome as the Lucas attack. Any citizen or law enforcement officer who did not know the scene was the aftermath of a "family dog attack," would assume that a violent crime or murder had taken place. Both acts, however, were perpetrated by a family pit bull.

Any dog breed that is known to suddenly attack a person unprovoked, as pit bulls historically are, -- by tearing off "chunks of flesh" muscle and tendons, and in the process "consuming" parts of it -- do not belong in any household. Nicole said that "no one could have predicted this." The dog had been living at her home for over a year. Lucas said that as her family pit bull ravaged and ate her arm, she screamed at the dog, "Hercules It's me!" But there was no recognition by the dog at all.

Over the 16-year period of 2005 through 2020, pit bulls killed 380 people. Just over half, 53%, of these victims were family or household members.

Sudden Impact Kennel

Sudden Impact Kennel appears to broker pit bulls with "sudden impact," of which pit bulls were already selectively bred for. There are two words involved, "sudden," as in a sudden unprovoked attack with little to no stimuli beforehand (Nicole had opened up the gate at the base of the stairs). The second word is "impact," as in a completely disproportionate response -- a severe mauling -- to minor stimuli. What better states "impact" than Nicole's injuries -- a catastrophic hole in her leg?

"Sudden impact" does not imply "sudden impact to intruders only." It could potentially involve anyone around the dog, including its owner and family members. Nicole states, "watching Zach sweating and stressing trying to get what we thought to be one of our protectors completely attack me." The alleged "protector" that suddenly turned into the family attacker, because the dog makes little to no distinction among its victims, a quality of being bred for explosive aggression.

Summary

Nicole's account of her attack is terrifying. From the brutal attack to her blood covering the floor and walls, to the two tourniquets being applied. From the ambulance lingering in the driveway for 30 minutes, to the two doses of fentanyl that made her feel "even more nervous." From the doctor who said, "send her to Albany," to the emergency surgery she was terrified of undergoing, and finally, to her trying to understand what "was happening but at the same time it was all so real."

Nicole has a long road ahead of her. The injuries she sustained are devastating. She is only 16-years old, yet will face a lifetime of permanent disfigurement. It is unknown how much function and feeling will return to her lower leg. We do know one thing. We have seen severe injuries like hers before, and after many surgery procedures, they heal remarkably. Medical advances move quickly too. There could be options available to her three years from now that aren't available today.

Visit her GoFundMe to help cover medications and medical supplies that she needs.

Editorial note: On December 19, 2022, we edited this post by replacing the word “produce” with “broker” because according to Sudden Impact, who wrote into us, “The puppy they obtained from us [Southpaw, AKA Southy] was brokered and not bred here on site. None of our dogs are directly related to him.”

The male family pit bull, "Southy," that inflicted the attack. Southy was from a Colby bloodline and UKC registered. The photo on the right is when the dog is being seized after the attack.

The family acquired the male pit bull over a year earlier from this breeder in Virginia.

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