Pit bull attacks 10 yr old boy

A 10-year old boy was attacked by a pit bull in Sweetwater Texas while walking to a relative's house on the 600-block of Oak Street. He thought he tripped over a curb, but before he knew it, a dog was mauling him.

"It's pretty common, we have a lot of pit bulls that do attack," says Shawn Scott, the Animal Control Officer in Sweetwater, "and that's our number one problem here in Sweetwater."

The dog was named Thunder, he broke free from his leash and attacked the young boy. When Clifford Ashley, heard the young boy screaming in pain outside his home, he rushed to help and called 911, but Ashley says his other dog Macy was the real hero.

"She was pretty heroic, doesn't help things, but I'm proud of what she did," says Ashley.

He says Macy bit Thunder in the rear, which released the boy. Ashley also says what Thunder did was out of character.

"I'm disappointed that the dog was able to get off," says Ashley, "I'm hurt that the child got hurt, as I said, that's the number one thing, the child."

Scott says Ashley and his family complied with the city ordinance, and followed all the rules. The dog wore an appropriate collar and was on a chain wrapped around a tree.

The young boy sustained several injuries and spent two days at Rolling Plains Hospital. He had wounds on his hand, hip, and calf. Officials say it took 47-stitches to sew up one wound alone, and his family was devastated.

"They're pretty upset about it, they're hurt, they look at it as we can't even let our child outside because a pitbull attacked him," says Scott, "and that's something that he's going to have to live with the rest of his life."

Thunder was released to Animal Control, and was euthanized earlier this week, which was not easy on Ashley, and his family.

"It was awfully hard, it was something that needed to be done, because we'd never trust him again," says Ashley, "but this is a dog that had come up as a stray two years ago, and we love our dogs."

The case is still under investigation, and police have not released the victim's name.

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