Dog Owner Charged In
Pit Bull Attack On Toddler

October 2, 2007
www.wlwt.com

(Please note, this little girls name has been spelled Jahnial, Jahniah, and Jahnia)

MIDDLETOWN, Ohio -- A Middletown girl was bitten over the weekend by a pit bull terrier that broke free from its chain.

Two-year-old Jahnial Johnson was playing outside a home on Eleventh Avenue, her grandmother said, when the dog chased down the toddler, locked its jaws onto her head and dragged her across the porch.

“I was shaking, (and) I couldn't think because you see stories about (those) dogs attacking all the time,” said the girl’s grandmother, Tasha Hightower.

A next-door neighbor, Horace Fuller, heard screams and beat the dog away with a shoe and a bag of dog food, Hightower said.

“I said, ‘Thank you, Jesus,’ and I took her to see him the next day, and he just held her and hugged her,” Hightower said. “I said, ‘If he wouldn't have been there, she wouldn't be here today.’”

Despite this recent incident and similar attacks that have made news, animal control officers said pit bulls pose no particular threat.“

Unfortunately, it's a breed that's popular with a lot of irresponsible owners,” said Liz Lucas, a Middletown animal control officer.

Jahnial is recovering from four puncture wounds to her head and cuts and bruises on her body, and the dog’s owner is scheduled to appear Wednesday in court.

“You want my side to the story? Then be in court,” said dog owner Lamar Powers, “That's where I'll tell my side of the story.”

Powers, who sources said did not have insurance for his dog, is charged with improperly restraining the animal, and a judge will decide whether the dog should be put down.

 

Owner of pit bull that mauls girl a no-show in court: Despite attack, lawmakers and animal activists say breed-specific laws won't make owners responsible.


By Daniel Wells
Staff Writer
Thursday, October 04, 2007
www.middletownjournal.com

MIDDLETOWN — The owner of the pit bull terrier that mauled a 2-year-old girl was a no-show Wednesday at Middletown Municipal Court.

Lamar Powers, 26, was cited under the state's vicious dog laws for improper confinement and failure to show proof of insurance after Asia, his 10-year-old pit bull, broke free of her chain Friday evening and tore a pig tail and part of the scalp off the toddler.
 
A neighbor, Horace Fuller, rescued the 2-year-old after hearing her screaming by striking the dog with a bag of dogfood on the porch and then choked it until it released the toddler.

Judge Mark Wall issued a warrant for Powers' arrest after he failed to appear.

Despite the attack, city officials and animal activists say reinstating the city's ban on the breed would be a bad idea.
 
Middletown banned keeping pit bulls inside the city from April 2005 until this April.

Since then, the has had only two reports of pit bull bites, said Animal Control Officer Liz Lucas.
 
"We have a lot of dog bites but it's not really breed-specific," she said.
Vice Mayor Tony Marconi said the ban was difficult to enforce.
 
"When we had a breed-specific ban don't think for a minute we didn't have pit bulls in this city," he said. "Owners need to be responsible for their pets."
 
Middletown Health Department statistics bear him out. About 5 percent of dog bite incidents are attributed to pit bulls and that rate didn't go down during the ban.
 
Lucas said the city's ban on tethering dogs and stiffer penalties for negligent pet owners are more fair than a blanket ban on one breed. Under the new penalties passed in April, the second time a dog gets loose is punishable by a $500 fine and 60 days in jail, Lucas said.

"Any big dog can inflict a bad bite," she said. "I really think what we've got right now is pretty good."
 
Leland Gordon, executive director of the Animal Friends Humane Society in Trenton, said several responsible pit bull owners were forced to bring their dogs to his shelter when Middletown passed its ban.
 
"Breed bans are wrong," Gordon said. "You need to hold the owner responsible."
 
Contact this reporter at (513) 705-2511 or dwells@coxohio.com.

 

Two-Year-Old Girl Recounts Pit Bull Attack


October 3, 2007
www.local12.com

Thanks to a quick-thinking neighbor, a two year old Middletown girl survives a dog attack. That pit bull terrier is now under quarantine, and the owner is due in court tomorrow to face charges. The girl escaped with cuts and scratches Friday night, but you can only imagine the terror she felt.

Local 12 Reporter Larry Davis is live in our Butler County Bureau at the Hamilton Journal News.

Jahniah Johnson was playing with some other kids when the dog broke loose and attacked. Fortunately for her, Horace Fuller was right next door and came to her rescue.

"Look, that's the doggie right there, bit me right here on my face, on my hair, right here."

Just days after she was attacked, two year old Jahniah Johnson is drawing a picture of her attacker. The little girl was visiting at this home with her mother when the dog broke loose from a chain and went after her. Jahniah was lucky, only suffering cuts to her scalp, to her upper body and "on my face."
 
"She had to be terrified, she had to be."

Jahniah's grandfather, Quincy Hightower, has this man to thank, Horace Fuller, himself a grandfather. Fuller was sitting on his porch when he heard trouble.

Horace Fuller, Rescued Girl From Dog: "The next thing I heard was aahfhrh and she says he's biting my child, so I jumped off the porch and went over there as fast as I could. I just reacted. I didn't even think."
 
Fuller saw the pit bull attacking Jahniah. He hit the dog with a bag of dog food, but the Pit didn't budge.

"I just grabbed it by the throat and just tried to squeeze as tight as I could. I got his windpipe, so he turned the baby loose. He had the baby like that."

Fuller says he threw the dog off the porch and then called 9-1-1. In addition to cuts and scratches, the dog ripped off one of Jahniah's braids.
 
"I looked on the step and there was one of her plats, about that long. It still had the barrette on it. That really got me. I said Lord have mercy."
 
"Thank God he was there. A lot of people may not have stepped in and tried to help. Thank God he did."

Horace Fuller says he won't forget the sight of the little girl being attacked by the dog.

"It's a sight I never want to see again, seeing that baby's head in a dogs mouth. That was really terrifying."
 
The dog is under quarantine at the house, but Horace Fuller wants it out of the neighborhood. Jahniah's grandfather wants it put down. Despite the horrible attack, little Jahniah says she still likes dogs.
 
The City of Middletown recently rescinded a ban on pit bull dogs, in favor of an ordinance which bans chaining of dogs. Middletown's animal control officer says she doesn't blame the breed of the dog, but the fact the owner was irresponsible in tying up the dog. She says that made it more aggressive. Police cited the dog's owner, Lamar Powers, for failing to have insurance for the dog and improper confinement.

Middletown Toddler Mauled By Pit Bull


October 10, 2007
http://www.fox19.com

(MIDDLETOWN, OH) -- A Middletown family says they're lucky tonight that a toddler is recovering after being mauled by a pit bull this weekend.

FOX19's Sara Gouedy spoke to the family, and the man accused of leaving his dog unattended.

Lamar Powers won't talk about his pit bull, the one police say attacked 2-year-old Jania Johnson over the weekend.

But Jania's grandmother, Tasha Hightower, has plenty to say about it.
She says she drove up minutes after the attack happened.

"She was screaming, 'dog bit me in head, Nanna, dog bit me in head,'" said Hightower.

Tasha says the dog got loose from a metal stake and attacked the toddler. She says a neighbor's quick action saved Jania's life.

"He had to literally choke the dog and must have gotten a hold of her windpipe and that's when the dog let go," said Hightower.

The worst of jania's cuts are underneath her hair. The attack was so vicious that part of her scalp came off.

"You could see the actual imprint of the tooth," said Hightower.

Four days later, it's hard to see the worst of it, but that doesn't mean Jania's forgotten.

"He ate me up!" she says.

Meanwhile, Middletown police have cited Lamar Powers for not having insurance on the dog, and not chaining it up properly.

The dog is now quarantined. No word yet on what it's fate will be.