Minneapolis boy attacked by dog at bus stop

4/13/07
By Janel Klein, KARE 11 News

A grade school boy was attacked by a dog Friday morning as he waited for the school bus near E. 36th Street and Clinton Avenue South.

An Akita dog was tied up at a south Minneapolis home this morning when it broke free and ran down the block. It stopped when it got to an eight-year-old boy who was waiting for his school bus. Neighbor Ruben Mendoza ran outside to help, struggling to free the boy as the dog became more violent.

"I was very scared because some dogs are very dangerous and can attack and kill people," Mendoza said.

Mendoza grabbed a shovel and shoved it inside the dog's mouth, allowing Devonta Prince to run. The boy climbed on top of a sign at Hosmer Library to escape the dog, but already Devonta had wounds to his head, torso, arms and hands.

"The boy was bleeding on his head, on his arm, everything was bleeding," Mendoza said.

Mendoza said the dog was always barking from its yard and he worried it might one day hurt his kids. The Akita had recently attacked another dog on the block and Mendoza says without his help, the boy may not have survived.

"He could've died," Mendoza said.

Devonta was taken by ambulance to Hennepin County Medical Center where he's listed in satisfactory condition.

The Akita's owners could not be reached for comment, but the dog was taken by animal control and has already been euthanized.

 

'I didn't think the dog would stop biting me'

4/13/07
By David Chanen, Star Tribune

A Like every other day, the Prince brothers were strolling the two blocks to Richard Green Central Park Middle School in south Minneapolis on Friday.

Sammie and DeQuincey, 10 and 12, were a few steps ahead of younger sibling DeVonta when the screams began. As the older boys turned around, they saw a fluffy brown Akita biting 8-year-old DeVonta, who had blood pouring from his head. The dog, which had escaped from a nearby yard, locked his jaws on the boy's left arm, shaking all his 60 pounds in front of Hosmer Library on E. 36th Street. The dog ripped through the boy's scalp and shoulder until a neighbor beat back the dog with a shovel.

"I didn't think the dog would stop biting me," said a sleepy DeVonta, resting in his hospital bed after more than three hours of surgery.

"He just jumped on my head."

Friday's incident was the second serious dog attack in the last three weeks in Minneapolis. On March 26, Paula Ybarra, 37, nearly died after an American bulldog and a pit bull classified as dangerous bit her repeatedly at her neighbor's Northeast house.

City officials are examining how Animal Control agents monitor dogs that are deemed dangerous under city ordinance.

On Friday, a neighbor, alerted by his wife to the mayhem outside his house, came running to DeVonta's defense, whacking the dog with a shovel. DeVonta's brothers scrambled up a 5-foot-tall "Hosmer Library" sign as DeVonta tried to follow, but the dog jumped on the boy's back.

A man driving by stopped his car, grabbed the shovel and gave the dog a few more smacks.

The teenage son of the dog's owner came over, calmed his pet and went home to tell his father. The man told police his dog never acts aggressively and agreed to have him euthanized, which happened later Friday.

Neither police nor the city's Animal Control had received reports that the Akita, owned by Casey Jelks, had bitten other people. The dog tested negative for rabies.

Minneapolis Council Member Elizabeth Glidden, whose Eighth Ward is where DeVonta was hurt, said she learned about the attack after getting an e-mail during Friday's council meeting. She discussed the incident with Animal Control.

"This makes me feel sick to my stomach," she said.

After Ybarra was attacked, City Council members in Minneapolis and St. Paul said they were working on tougher ordinances.

Ybarra was released from the hospital Thursday but still can't talk because of the wounds to her throat.

A pit bull of their own

Tracy Prince, DeVonta's mother, said her family was still reeling from the death Wednesday night of DeVonta's 4-month-old pit bull puppy Juvenile, who was shot by police when officers entered her home on a drug-related search warrant.

Lt. Amelia Huffman said the warrant was considered high risk, which allowed officers to go into the home in the 3600 block of Clinton Avenue S. without warning or knocking.

Huffman said that, according to police reports, officers had to shoot the dog because it was "attacking as they were entering." DeQuincey Prince was in the same room when the dog was shot. Huffman said officers are never happy when they have to kill a dog, but they don't want to get bitten doing their job.

Nobody was arrested, she said.

Jerry Broome, DeVonta's stepfather, said the 30-pound pit bull was most protective of DeVonta. The two played all the time, and Broome doubted that the dog acted aggressively toward the officers.

"He might give a little bark, but then would just lick you," he said. "After they shot him, they put him in a garbage bag and didn't tell us why."

On Friday, the family's priority was nursing DeVonta. Besides his head and shoulder injuries, large bites were also visible on his left arm, hand and leg.

His brothers, with mom by their side, became more upset as they described what happened to him. They had seen the Akita many times as they walked to school. It would bark at them, but they weren't afraid of him, DeQuincey said.

Usually the dog is chained up, but he somehow broke the chain and escaped from his unfenced back yard, police said. DeQuincey and Sammie heard DeVonta plead for help about 7:45 a.m. Friday and saw the dog on top of their brother. The dog completely covered DeVonta's body, DeQuincey said. DeVonta tried to cover his face with his hands.

"But he was shaking me by the arm," DeVonta said. "Then somebody came with a shovel."

That person was a neighbor of the Princes who lives on Clinton Avenue. He ran out in bare feet and tried to separate the dog from the boy with a shovel. The dog ran away for a short time, but came back as the boys tried to climb up the library sign.

"He climbed on my shoulders and started biting me again," DeVonta said.

Dan Prince, who isn't related to DeVonta's family, was driving on E. 36th Street when he heard yelling in front of the library. He looked over and saw the kids scrambling up the sign, chased by a dog.

"I thought that was a weird way for somebody to play with a dog," he said.

Realizing something was wrong, Dan Prince stopped his car and went to help the man swinging the shovel. Dan Prince then grabbed the shovel and hit the dog in the jaw. The dog, which was a little surprised, growled and started toward him, he said.

"It lunged at me, and I whacked it again," he said. "Then the dog started to go around the other side of the library sign as if he was going to attack the boy again."

But then, Dan Prince said, the teenage son of Jelks came to the scene, and the dog calmly lumbered toward him. Dan Prince wrapped his sweater and around DeVonta's head.

"He was freaking and writhing in pain," Dan Prince said. "You could clearly see the teeth marks on his head and arms."

Minutes later, Jelks walked over. He cradled DeVonta until the ambulance arrived. Dan Prince said Jelks was obviously stunned about what his dog did.

"You could see the look on his face," he said. "The man told officers he knew the dog would have to be killed."

Tracy Prince, DeVonta's mom, now has to wait to make sure the bites don't become infected. Doctors told her they don't believe the dog bites left any permanent injuries.

This is good news because her son loves to play basketball. But it's too early to tell whether he'll ever feel comfortable around dogs again.

"It didn't seem like a mean dog," DeQuincey said. "Until today."
Staff writer Terry Collins contributed to this story. David Chanen • 612-673-4465 • dchanen@startribune.com