Pit bull severely mauls 15 months old child, injures three other people

http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=2798&u_sid=10366998

Published Thursday June 26, 2008
Dog severely mauls child, injures three other people
BY JASON KUIPER
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

A 15-month-old girl lay in a hospital Wednesday awaiting surgery after a dog attack so brutal that part of her scalp was torn away and found on the red Radio Flyer wagon she and a playmate had been riding in.

On the street where the attack took place, a neighbor who witnessed it said he would have nightmares. And the mother of the dog's owner said she was saddened that she may never again see the family pet — a dog that would often jump up and lick her face.

Charlotte Blevins was critically injured after being yanked from the wagon by a 2-year-old pit bull mix named Duke. Her mother, 29-year-old Wendy Blevins, was bitten in the neck.


A Humane Society animal control officer attempts to control a dog named Duke to place him in a van near 14th and Pine Street Wednesday afternoon. The dog had attacked two women and two children that were out for an afternoon walk.

Charlotte's playmate Cade Spring, 17 months old, was bitten on the left side of his chest. His mother, Carley Spring, 30, was bitten on one of her hands.

The attack took place about 3:30 p.m. at 14th and Pine Streets. All four of those bitten were taken to Creighton University Medical Center. Only Charlotte remained hospitalized.


Tina Agerson, left, with her mother Nancy Mancuso said her dog broke his leash and attacked the walkers.

Spring and Cade returned home from the hospital Wednesday evening, said Jeff Spring, Spring's husband and Cade's dad. "They are both home and they are fine," he said.

The women and children were headed north with the wagon on 14th Street as Tina Agerson and her mother, Nancy Mancuso, were walking Agerson's pit bull south toward them. As Agerson approached her own yard, the dog may have become agitated by the noise of the wagon.

The dog pulled loose from Agerson and attacked.

FULL story at link.

when I'm walking with my kids, I would have choked the dog to death and went to work on Tina..fuckin' ridiculous.

I never know when the druggies around the corner are going to leave their gate door open. It's an accident waiting to happen. :(

That leash looks like it was hardly capable of holding that dog.

Once again, innocent people and animals are victimized by stupid and/or cruel pet owners...and the headline will only say "PIT BULL ATTACKS...."

for improper restraint.

I wouldn't use that leash on my 40lb BC, let alone a pit bull.

then prosecute her for attempted murder and unforgivable stupidity.

Holding up the leash and the look on her face... she's saying, "It ain't my fault..."

criminal stupidity! of all things to let happen...this owner should spend time UNDER the jail. have any pet you like...but effing CONTROL IT!!! and the parents of the girls should be able to lay claim to all her property to cover medical and psychological expenses for their children for the rest of their lives...

too bad for the pooch...probably be destroyed if not already...

sP

OnEdit ... how callous do you have to be that in the face of this incident you are worried that you'll 'never see the DOG again???' FUCK!

poor kid. poor parents. poor dog - thorough training & attentive, competent ownership MAY have prevented this attack.

pit bulls should not be owned by what i like to call "dirtballs". this is a gender, race, and economic neutral term. unfortunately, there is no way to legislate this.

INSURANCE REQUIREMENT. The dogs were gone practically overnight.

Or else ban pit bulls. I will never trust that breed.

Maybe more communities should do that.

what city?

and doubt I could find a link in Englisch. Suffice to say about 5 years ago pit bulls were all the rage among the young, disadvantaged macho set. It got ridiculous with some people who were unable to control themselves, much less a powerful dog on public transportation, in the parks and on the streets. I got to my door one day and had to wait until the dog finished pooping on the doorstep to enter the building. It's owner, with his glare, dared me to speak... Our local tabloid was raging. First came a muzzle law. When that didn't do the trick and after a few more incidents, a requirement of substantial insurance coverage was passed.

It took less than a week to DRASTICALLY reduce the number of punks with dogs they used as penis extensions. I don't feel anxiety when I see pitbulls now, knowing their owners are more likely to be committed to them, as the price of keeping them is so high.

"Joachim" may have moved out of town. I'd often see him around, we always nodded to each other and one day he had "Lady" with him. We spoke, I asked if she was friendly, and before he could answer she was between my legs saying, "Yes, OF COURSE you can pet me!!!" He had trained her extremely well, she'd get all giggly when she subsequently saw me down the street but waited for his OK to try to lick me to death. People STARED when they saw us; a tall, skinny, tatooed all over, bald shaven, leather clad guy and his pitbull with a small, dreadlocked, black lady hugging, kissing and talking to the dog. They disappeared not long after the ordinance was passed... :-(

First off, poor kid and people. I hope the dog is killed or contained forever.



Why did you change the headline of the article to add "pit bull"? Uneccessary unless your goal was to "sexify" it by adding "pit bull". The dog was a "pit bull mix ". Why not say what the other part is, unless this is more OMG PitBull!! crap.

JCOATH. Why?

The people in metro Omaha already knew it was a pit bill after seeing the images and story on TV yesterday. DU readers I'm sure didn't see these stories. There are a few breeds that the public recognizes as being a problem. The article doesn't mention the other mix of breed. As a former park caretaker (I lived in the park), I know this breed and a few others have a larger percentage of danger to the public than most breeds by experience. I'm entitled to an opinion too. A ban in Omaha of pit bulls is now being considered again after this, yet another attack. I guess I should have said land shark attack.

http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=2798&u_sid=10367432

Attack revives issue of ban on pit bulls

Published Thursday June 26, 2008
Attack revives issue of ban on pit bulls
BY JASON KUIPER AND MAGGIE O'BRIEN
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITERS

After a pit bull mix bit four people Wednesday, a neighbor wishes the city would ban the dogs.

Gary Thompson said he knew something bad would happen because of the dog, Duke.

Thompson said he believes a ban would cut down on incidents like the one Wednesday, when two toddlers and their mothers were attacked.

Several cities and towns in the area have done just that, the largest being Council Bluffs, where the number of bites has dropped since pit bulls were banned there three years ago. As of Wednesday night, there had been no reported attacks there this year.

Nebraska Humane Society officials have said a ban in a city the size of Omaha would not work for a number of reasons, including the difficulty of determining what a pit bull is.

Several breeds are considered pit bulls.

Officials also have said that people who raise pit bulls and use them for illegal purposes would simply switch to a different breed or that unsavory owners of those dogs would keep them and not get licenses.

Officials have said that instead of a ban on a single type of dog, Omaha has strong dangerous-dog and menacing-behavior laws.

City officials have said a ban of the breed has never been seriously considered.

Each year, 800,000 Americans seek medical attention for dog bites, half of them children. Of those injured, 386,000 require emergency treatment and about a dozen die.

Almost two-thirds of injuries among children ages 4 years and younger are to the head or neck areas.

Wednesday's attack appears to be the worst in Omaha since 2001, when a toddler's genitals were torn off by a pit bull as the child slept.

• Contact the writer: 444-1279, jason.kuiper@owh.com

I am sorry to offend pit bull owners or 1/2 pit bull owners and or those that like and or defend the breed. Everybody outside of Omaha that didn't have the PIT BULL image or words only from TV and radio YESTERDAY, please mentally insert the word "half" in the title of the story.

Uppity I thought we were friends?

and no, pit bulls or mixes don't have stronger jaws, etc etc etc. It just feeds the hysteria when the issue is dogs, owners, etc.

peace to you.

You should be held responsible if it attacks, period.

I don't buy it that dogs raised right will naturally do that.

it's how the owners raised the dog, and I just have a feeling this lady had this dog as a "guard dog". I am sure this is not the first time this dog has acted like this, she should have had him put to sleep a long time ago, disgusting...oh and it's not just pitbulls, other breeds are mean too