Pit Bull Attacks 11-Month-Old Girl In Stroller


A pit bull was pulled off by a courageous neighbor when it viciously attacked a little girl.

The pit bull ambushed a couple who was taking a walk on Friday afternoon in Nutley, New Jersey, pushing their sleeping 11-month-old daughter in a stroller.

When the couple got to Walnut Street and Satterthwaite Avenue, police said, the dog launched an attack on their baby.

The community was thrown into an uproar, said neighbor Seamus Burke.

“Just a commotion, everyone was screaming, nobody knew where to go, what to do.”

Neighbor Jim Lyons said he ran to the child’s mother.

“I came running out and the mother of the girl was hysterical. I was trying to take care of her, tell her everything is alright, not knowing the child had been bitten already.”

The uproar brought all the neighbors out of their homes where the incident occurred on Walnut Street, according to ABC News.

The dog was latched onto the little girl’s leg, reports say.

Ahmed El Karrimy, a neighbor, told CBS2 he had gone inside his house to shower when he heard screaming.

He said he grabbed his own dog’s wire leash and then put it on the pit bull’s neck while neighbors called 911. But the pit bull would not release the girl until the police arrived.

“We held the dog, I kept it up so it didn’t bite anybody and put it in the police car.”

Burke had grabbed the little girl.

“The baby was there, everybody was on the dog next thing, we were like the baby’s here screaming, losing all this blood and got her out of the stroller. We got the baby out of the stroller, tied a tourniquet, the mother was distraught, the father was too, just did what we had to do.”

The baby was rushed to a nearby hospital, where she underwent surgery that left her with over 70 stitches on her wounds. According to police, “the child spent three days undergoing plastic surgery to her right leg.”

The pit bull had attacked after escaping from inside its house. CBS2 went to interview the owner, but no one answered the door.

Neighbors said the dog had recently been adopted from a shelter and had shown no signs of aggression prior to the attack. Karrimy said, in fact, it was quite the opposite.

“Usually everyone is like, ‘I wish my dog was like their dog.'”

The dog has been placed in quarantine for 10 days, per an order by the municipal health department.

Nutley Mayor, Alphonse Petracco, paid a visit to the baby’s family. He commented that many people in town remain concerned.

“Quite frankly, I don’t [sic] the dog should be back. I’ve had a lot of people coming up to me saying that these streets aren’t safe because of a dog. We want to make sure that people feel safe to come out of their homes.”

Petracco went on to say he would do his best to make sure the dog will not be back.

“We don’t want another incident like this to happen in our town. I’m pushing myself to make sure that animal doesn’t return back to that house.”

Though they declined to talk with Eyewitness News on camera, the baby girl’s parents said they do not want the pit bull to come back. They told reporters that they’ll be forever grateful to Burke, whom they consider a hero.

Neighbors have stated that they do not want the dog to be returned to the neighborhood, as families will not feel safe after the attack.

The pit bull’s owner has been issued an order to appear in court on May 4.

The fate of the dog has yet to be decided.

[Photo by Anjum Naveed/AP]

Share this article: Pit Bull Attacks 11-Month-Old Girl In Stroller
More from Inquisitr