WARNING SOME IMAGES SHOW BITE INJURIES! News covered a pit bull attack on a little girl named Kasey Eyring -- one of the most vicious attacks ever seen in the Baltimore -- and the pictures taken shortly after the incident remain difficult to view.
11 News reporter Donna Hamilton sat down with Kasey and her mother recently to talk about her story.
On a January night in 2001, Kasey, then 7 years old, was playing outside her grandmother's home in a street in southwest Baltimore when a dog burst through a neighbor's fence, his jaws locking onto Kasey's face. "I've never seen an animal bite that bad," said Dr. Bradley Robertson in 2002. "The entire left side of her face, from her ear to the jaw line, and her lip -- all of that was gone." Robertson is a doctor at Shock Trauma who reconstructed Kasey's face after the incident. She had dozens of surgeries to help in the reconstruction, the family said. Currently, Kasey is a bright, energetic 14-year-old with a sweet smile, an infectious laugh and pretty brown eyes, Hamilton reported. She's come a long way, but she still bears the scars of that night. "What do you remember about that day?" Hamilton asked Kasey. "I remember a dog barking, and all of a sudden he busted through the fence. I ran the other way, but that's all I remember," she said. But Kelly Eyring, Kasey's mom, said she remembers the horror of all of it. "I remember the men coming in. Her father turned around and walked back out. They couldn't handle it." - Kelly Eyring, victim's mother "My husband was just kicking and kicking. They tried metal trashcans they grabbed out of yards, but this dog would not let go. My husband remembered he had a pocket knife with him and started stabbing it in the neck," Kelly Eyring said. "We put a towel over the left side of her face, and I remember the men coming in. Her father turned around and walked back out. They couldn't handle it," she said. "I just looked at the women in the room and the neighbors, and I said, 'Pray with me.' And we just started praying." Doctors feared they might lose Kasey, but she was tougher than they thought -- and funny, even on that horrible night, Hamilton reported. "I said, 'Kasey, don't leave me. Don't leave me.' I just kept saying it, because she'd get all quiet ... until she finally looked up and said, 'I told you, mom, I'm not going nowhere.' That made me feel good," Kelly Eyring remembered. Kasey was in the hospital for almost a month and she's been back for visits countless times for follow-up operations, Hamilton reported. Kasey's family said she is often very reserved and quiet. Her mother said she's that way with everyone but friends and close family. "She saw a therapist for a while, but she would say, 'Mom, I just don't know what we're going to talk about.' Because she doesn't talk about it -- at all," Kelly Eyring said. Kelly Eyring said that Kasey wanted to do the interview with 11 News because she wanted everyone to know how she is doing since the night she was mauled and where she is in her life. "How would you describe who Kasey is today, and what life is like?" Hamilton asked the girl. Kasey responded, "I like shopping, and stuff like that." She said she's just a regular 14-year-old girl with the same problems as everyone else -- mostly. Kasey just recently underwent a laser procedure in hopes of reducing her scars, the family said. The dog that attacked Kasey was put down the night of her attack. The owner was cited and fined, Hamilton reported.
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Pit Bull Attack News Storyby jwallace5242245,091 views
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