Pit Bull Attack Sparks Outrage

05/26/2007
www.wtol.com

TOLEDO -- A Toledo couple wants a neighborhood pit bull killed because they say it attacked their two-year-old daughter in her stroller.

It happened last night at the corner of Saint Bernard and Giant in West Toledo. The parents told News 11 they were walking to a children's park so their daughter could play. But while walking past the house next door, they say the dog got out and attacked their little girl.
Samantha Hiley's parents say watching their daughter play safe in their driveway after the ordeal is an answer to prayer.

"Just seeing how much blood that there was -- her head was open," said the girl's mother, Sara Hiley. She says she and her husband Derrick were pushing Samantha in her stroller when they heard barking.

Reports indicate the dog, Kilo, got away from her owner when he tried to chain her up.

"The dog saw the family go by," Dog Warden Tom Skeldon said. "It got away from him. It jumped the fence. It went up and over the fence."

Samantha's parents say the dog went straight for her, biting her several times deep in the face.

"When it bit her, my wife started screaming. Samantha started crying. The gash was over an inch wide," said Derrick Hiley, Samantha's father.

"I was holding her, trying to close it up a little bit," Sara said.

The dog owner's father gave Kilo to the warden.

"The law says securely confined. If the dog comes over the fence, he's obviously not securely confined," Skeldon said.

We tried to talk to the dog owner, who could now face felony charges. Kilo could be euthanized within two weeks.

As for Samantha, she might have to undergo more surgery, but her parents are thankful she's still here.

"She's my only little girl," Sara said.