Pit bull held in Jackson boy's attack
Neighbor arrested in boy's injury
http://www.clarionledger.com
Nicklaus Lovelady • nicklaus.lovelady@jackson.gannett.com •
January 19, 2011
Marquevenia Keys, 9, has a swollen lip after he was attacked by a pitt bull outside his home on Judy Street in south Jackson on Monday.
(Rick Guy/The Clarion-Ledger)
JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI —Jackson animal control officers on Wednesday removed a pit bull from a home and arrested its owner following an investigation into a dog attack that left a 9-year-old boy with wounds to his mouth and stomach.
Police have not yet determined if the dog was involved in the attack, Jackson police spokeswoman Colendula Green said.
The owner of the pit bull, Leseasn Pickett, 33, was arrested at his home at 319 Judy St., Green said. He is a neighbor of the injured boy.
Pickett is charged with interfering with the duties of an animal control officer, failure to provide standard care and treatment of an animal and failure to maintain control of an animal.
The dog attack occurred Monday afternoon as Marqueveni Keys was playing outside his Judy Street home in south Jackson, which is three houses down from Pickett's.
Marquevenia said Pickett's pit bull broke loose from its chain and began attacking him, biting both his face and stomach.
On Wednesday, Marquevenia sat on his couch with his cousins, still in pain from the attack. The dog bit off 20 percent of his upper lip.
"It was on the side of the house," Marquevenia said as he tried not to move his aching lips.
He said the dog ran toward him and began biting him. He used the stick he was playing with to ward off the attack.
Marquevenia said a man from Pickett's house ran over and pulled the dog off him.
"He whipped him then tied him to a bigger chain," Marquevenia said.
The attack will force Marqueveni, a third-grader, to miss at least a week of school. His mother, Melissa Charleston, said her son may return to school after his next doctor's appointment on Tuesday.
"It's been a very scary ordeal. It could have killed him," Charleston said.
Pickett originally told authorities that a stray dog attacked Marquevenia, police said.
Green said animal control gave Pickett a chance to come clean and when he didn't, they arrested him, found his dog and seized it.
The dog was malnourished, she said.
Both Marquevenia and Charleston, said there is no doubt the dog that attacked him belongs to Pickett. However, they said the dog the police seized is not the dog that attacked him.
Charleston said she will seek to have the pit bull classified as a nuisance.
Among other pit bull attacks :
•Last February, Anataisa Bingham, 5, was mauled to death by a pit bull near her Terry home. The case was presented to a Hinds County grand jury, but it reached no conclusion on assigning guilt.
•In 2008, a pit bull attacked and killed a 3-year-old boy in south Jackson. Tony Evans Jr. was playing outside with friends at 112 Maple Ridge Drive across the street from his home.
In 2009, 14 of the 32 fatal dog attacks in the United States involved pit bulls, according to Dogexpert.com.
Each year, the Mississippi Animal Rescue League reportedly puts down between 200 and 300 pit bulls because of their aggressiveness.
Arrest made in pit bull attack of child
Posted: Jan 19, 2011 10:29 PM EST
Updated: Jan 20, 2011 11:32 AM EST
By Roslyn Anderson - bio | email
article
JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) –The alleged owner of the pit bull that attacked a child Monday in south Jackson has been arrested.
Meanwhile, the search for the animal continues.
Two days after Marquevenia Keys, 9, was bitten by a pit bull across from his Judy Street home, he told Jackson Animal Control officers that the dog they just caught wasn't the one that attacked him.
"They brought the dog, but it wasn't the right dog," said the third grader.
That pit bull tore away part of his upper lip.
Teeth marks remain on his stomach where he was also bitten.
"The dog that attacked my son they took it off somewhere," said the boy's mother Melissa Charleston. "When I went down to that home and picked my son up that particular day the dog was on the side of the house tied up, and it was a brown dog with a white strip."
The family moved to the street about a month ago.
Marquevenia said he was playing beside the Lee Elementary School fence when the dog attacked.
Jackson police arrested LeSean Pickett, 33 years old at 319 Judy Street, just down two doors down from the boy's home.
"He's hindering the investigation," said J.P.D. Officer Colendula Green.
Pickett is charged with interfering with the duties of an animal control officer, failure to provide standard care and treatment and failure to maintain control of an animal.
The charges are all misdemeanors.
"They allowed him a little time to get the dog and bring it back to animal control which he did not bring the dog back," said Officer Green. "He made up excuses saying that the dog had been bitten by a snake three months ago".
Animal control officers said the brown pit bull was taken because it was malnourished.
The search continues for the animal accused in the attack.
Tuesday WLBT captured video of several dogs unchained and walking around the area.
The following day no dogs were seen roaming the street while animal control officers investigated.
Pickett is expected to make an initial appearance in Jackson Municipal Court Thursday morning.
The child's mother plans to file civil charges against the dog's owner for restitution in covering medical expenses and other damages.
