Robert Maxwell: Damaged in Seconds

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Written by: Robert Maxwell
Last Update: 10/28 10:50 pm

Andrew Vanderwerff after pit bull attack (ABC 4 News)

Dog bites and torn flesh can heal. Inside the young mind of a West Valley City boy, it is a different, terrifying story.

Five year-old Andrew Vanderweff may never completely be able to forget last Friday. He and a friend were doing what any number of kids like to do, biking around their suburban neighborhood where the streets are safe and normally quiet.

But in a flash, a pitbull who was supposed to be chained up in a kennel in a neighbor’s driveway was on them, first confronting Andrew then attacking him. His cheek will require skin grafts where the animal’s teeth ripped in. Other bites punctured his small body, leaving ugly holes and bruises.

Andrew’s mother was nearby and lept into action pulling the animal and boy apart after hearing his screams.

The man who owns the property has a staggeringly different version of events. He says this five year-old child must have gone onto the driveway, into the kennel and unleashed the dog. Whatever the case, however the dog escaped it found itself free, resorted to its natural instincts and pounced. Did it feel some threat? Did the boy unknowingly trigger the brutal response with some movement?

Those questions are up for debate. But a five year-old now has a lifetime of work ahead to ease the horror of being stalked and attacked by something that weighed more that he does. Andrew has no idea this animal was unlicensed and has been put down. All he knows is that he wakes up after nightmares and in pain when he should be planning his Halloween costume.

Boy recovers from pit bull attack

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Reported by: Marcos Ortiz
Last Update: 10/28 6:14 pm

Andrew Vanderwerff after pit bull attack (ABC 4 News)

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WEST VALLEY CITY Utah (ABC 4 News) – A five-year old boy attacked by a pit bull is back home recovering.

On Friday, Andrew Vanderweff was bitten several times by the dog which got out of his kennel.

His mother said Andrew is having a hard time.

“He's waking up all night long crying and screaming in his sleep and I wake him up make sure he's doing okay,” said DeLayna Moffitt.

The boy was riding his bike on the street near his home when the dog attacked him.

"The dog jumped him while he was on his bike and knocked him off his bike and started to attack him," she said. "The dog got his face first that's where most of the damage is to his face and took off his whole cheek.”

Moffitt was inside her home and heard the screams and ran towards her son.

"I just grabbed and when I grabbed him (dog) he dropped to the ground and just looked at me like he knew he had done something wrong,” Moffitt said.

She said Andrew's cheek was nearly ripped off. And there were other bites all around his face and body.

"It’s horrible,” she said. “I mean you buy a pet or get a pet and neglect it and this is what happens.”

Investigators learned its owner was a guest at the home.

The pit bull was staying in a kennel in the driveway.

“I have told him not to come to this property unless we're home,” said the homeowner who identified himself only as Sione.

The homeowner who doesn't own the dog accused the boy of coming into the yard and unleashing the pit bull.

"He was on that leash all day when I left he was on that leash he couldn't have left unless somebody let him out,” he said. “He could not have gotten out.”

But Andrew's mom said after the attack she showed Sione's wife where the dog got out on his own.

"I went back and was showing the lady that lives over there the hole in the fence and the rope and the harness was actually stuck in the hole,” Moffitt said.

The owner of the dog was given several citations by West Valley’s animal services. The owner failed to vaccinate, register and license the dog.

The pit bull was euthanized on Monday and his remains were sent to the state laboratory for analysis.

Meanwhile Andrew’s mom said her son will have to go through several skin grafts and other surgeries related to his recovery. The family has no medical insurance.