Children Recovering After Being Mauled By Family Pit Bull

kbtv4
Air Date: 5/3/2007

A family gathering turns dangerous when a dog viciously attacks two toddlers. The two little girls were attacked and mauled by a family pit bull in Silsbee over the weekend.

4 year old Aladrien Simmons and her cousin 18 month old Makayla Patterson are recovering after they were attacked by their uncle`s pit bull.

“I [saw] the injuries... very bad injuries. [I] just started praying and hoping the kids would get better,” said Darron Turk, who was the owner of the pit and is the uncle of Simmons and Patterson.

Sunday Simmons and Patterson were at Turk`s home during a family gathering. According to Silsbee Police Chief Dennis Allen a family member went outside to see Turk`s dog with the 4 year old following behind him.

“This dog had become very aggressive. The dog was on a chain. The dog started lunging… the dog got loose.”

He got loose and attacked Simmons` leg and then Patterson`s head. A neighbor saw the violent attack.

“Somebody hollered at him... he [neighbor] got a gun and killed the dog,” said Chief Allen.

Turk has had the dog since it was a puppy and during the year since, Turk says his pet had never acted this aggressively.

“I never would imagine that he would act like that. I will never own another pit bull. The dog just turned.”

“[The children are] considered very lucky… very fortunate even though it was very tragic… but thank God they`re going to be okay,” replied Chief Allen.

Simmons went to a Beaumont hospital. Patterson was taken by medical helicopter to a Galveston hospital. As both continue to recover, family members are just thankful the situation wasn`t worse.

“It’s a blessing. It`s a real blessing. The more I talk to them [the children] the better it makes me feel,” said Turk.

Since the children were bit, the dog`s corpse was sent to the Health Department in Houston to be tested for any diseases. No charges were filed. Family members are expecting the little girls to be home soon.

Raquel Duncan
rduncan@kbtv4.tv

Pit bull breaks free, injures two young girls

By: PAUL S. MARTINEZ, The Enterprise
05/04/2007

SILSBEE - Darron Turk welcomes his family members for food and fellowship every Sunday after church.

Last Sunday was even more special as the family had just returned from Lubbock, where Turk's two sons - Darrion, 13, and Kelton, 12 - had taken first place in the statewide Little Dribblers basketball competition.

But the gathering took an ugly turn when Turk's year-old pit bull, named Midnight after its jet black coat, snapped its chain.

The dog attacked Turk's niece, 5-year-old Aladrrien Simmons, biting her left calf, Turk recalled.

As the adults rushed to help the little girl who had the 50-pound pit bull - a breed known for the relentless grip of its bite - attached to her leg, they left 22-month-old Makaela Patterson unattended about 30 feet away in another part of the yard.

Turk said the adults wrestled Midnight off Aladrrien, but the dog slipped away and headed straight for the toddler.

The pit bull bit Makaela in the back of her head, Turk said.

The dog gnawed on the girl for about 30 seconds before Kelton Turk retrieved a baseball bat from inside the house.

The seventh grader hit the dog on the side of its head, dazing it and making it lie down.

Meanwhile, a neighbor who heard the commotion arrived at the house with a shotgun."I saw the dog lying down. When it got up, I shot it before it could attack anyone else," said the neighbor, who didn't want to be identified.

Midnight died.

Makaela was airlifted to the University of Texas Medical Branch Hospital in Galveston with a fractured skull.

Both girls are expected to make full recoveries.