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Girl hurt in pit bull attack
By Susan Weich
Of the Post-Dispatch
08/29/2005
A 7-year-old girl in O'Fallon, Mo., who went to a neighbor's house to collect money for a fundraiser was attacked by two pit bulls Sunday night.
Olivia Newcomb, a second-grader at Crossroads Elementary School, was recovering Monday at St. Joseph Hospital West in Lake Saint Louis, where she was being treated for bites to her right arm and right calf.
Olivia's father, John Newcomb, said his daughter was doing well but would be in the hospital for a few more days, and then she would have to undergo extensive physical rehabilitation.
Meanwhile, the dogs' owner, Eric Bustillos, turned the 10-year-old dogs, Dozer and Princess, over to the police department and requested they be euthanized. Bustillos declined to be interviewed. Advertisement
Newcomb said his daughter went to Bustillos' home, across the street from where they live in the first block of Reece Drive, about 6 p.m. to collect money for a fundraiser for a child-care center she attends before school. Newcomb said Olivia was friends with Bustillos' daughter and had been to their home before, but the dogs were usually kept on a leash.
"If I'd known they were loose in the front yard, I'd have never let her go over there," Newcomb said.
Police say the dogs charged at Olivia from behind a vehicle parked in the driveway. Bustillos heard Olivia screaming and ran outside, pulled the dogs off her and then carried her back home, police said. Olivia's parents rushed her to the hospital.
O'Fallon Police Maj. Mark Henke said the city's animal control had not had any complaints about the dogs in the year the Bustilloses had lived there or at the family's previous address on Hollywood Drive in O'Fallon.
"They've had no trouble with the dogs in the past, and kids have been around them with no problems," he said.
Henke said charges are not likely.
Theresa Williams, director of St. Charles County Animal Control, said the dogs appeared to be well-cared for - the male weighed about 65 pounds and the female 55 pounds.
Authorities say the male dog initiated the attack, and the female joined in.
The attack is at least the fourth serious attack by pit bulls in St. Charles County since April.
That month, Lorinze Reddings, 42, was killed by his two pit bull-mix dogs in his St. Charles County home. A few days later, Josh Denning, 13, and Gary Wetteroff, 39, both of St. Peters, were bitten by a relative's pit bull in their home. Police shot that dog when it wouldn't stop the attack.
A week after that, a St. Charles police officer fatally shot a pit bull after the dog lunged at another officer while they were trying to arrest a man at the Travelodge Hotel in St. Charles.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 332,000 people in the United States were bitten by dogs in 2003, the most recent year for the data. No breed-specific data is kept on those figures, however.
Williams said that although many different breeds are involved in dog bite attacks every year, they do not get the publicity that an attack by a pit bull gets.
She said other factors beside the breed - such as the gender of the dog and whether the animal was regularly chained - are involved in dog attacks.
By Susan Weich
Of the Post-Dispatch
08/29/2005
A 7-year-old girl in O'Fallon, Mo., who went to a neighbor's house to collect money for a fundraiser was attacked by two pit bulls Sunday night.
Olivia Newcomb, a second-grader at Crossroads Elementary School, was recovering Monday at St. Joseph Hospital West in Lake Saint Louis, where she was being treated for bites to her right arm and right calf.
Olivia's father, John Newcomb, said his daughter was doing well but would be in the hospital for a few more days, and then she would have to undergo extensive physical rehabilitation.
Meanwhile, the dogs' owner, Eric Bustillos, turned the 10-year-old dogs, Dozer and Princess, over to the police department and requested they be euthanized. Bustillos declined to be interviewed. Advertisement
Newcomb said his daughter went to Bustillos' home, across the street from where they live in the first block of Reece Drive, about 6 p.m. to collect money for a fundraiser for a child-care center she attends before school. Newcomb said Olivia was friends with Bustillos' daughter and had been to their home before, but the dogs were usually kept on a leash.
"If I'd known they were loose in the front yard, I'd have never let her go over there," Newcomb said.
Police say the dogs charged at Olivia from behind a vehicle parked in the driveway. Bustillos heard Olivia screaming and ran outside, pulled the dogs off her and then carried her back home, police said. Olivia's parents rushed her to the hospital.
O'Fallon Police Maj. Mark Henke said the city's animal control had not had any complaints about the dogs in the year the Bustilloses had lived there or at the family's previous address on Hollywood Drive in O'Fallon.
"They've had no trouble with the dogs in the past, and kids have been around them with no problems," he said.
Henke said charges are not likely.
Theresa Williams, director of St. Charles County Animal Control, said the dogs appeared to be well-cared for - the male weighed about 65 pounds and the female 55 pounds.
Authorities say the male dog initiated the attack, and the female joined in.
The attack is at least the fourth serious attack by pit bulls in St. Charles County since April.
That month, Lorinze Reddings, 42, was killed by his two pit bull-mix dogs in his St. Charles County home. A few days later, Josh Denning, 13, and Gary Wetteroff, 39, both of St. Peters, were bitten by a relative's pit bull in their home. Police shot that dog when it wouldn't stop the attack.
A week after that, a St. Charles police officer fatally shot a pit bull after the dog lunged at another officer while they were trying to arrest a man at the Travelodge Hotel in St. Charles.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 332,000 people in the United States were bitten by dogs in 2003, the most recent year for the data. No breed-specific data is kept on those figures, however.
Williams said that although many different breeds are involved in dog bite attacks every year, they do not get the publicity that an attack by a pit bull gets.
She said other factors beside the breed - such as the gender of the dog and whether the animal was regularly chained - are involved in dog attacks.
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