Princeton child attacked, bitten by dog

Published: Tuesday, September 27, 2011, 10:41 AM
Updated: Tuesday, September 27, 2011, 10:47 AM

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PRINCETON TOWNSHIP, NJ -- A 7-year-old girl was bitten by a tethered dog that broke its leash and attacked her Sunday afternoon, police said.

The attack on the grounds of the Riverside Elementary School left the child with a laceration and the German Shepherd dog in a ten-day quarantine pending the

outcome of an animal control investigation. No charges have been filed against the dog’s owner Dorothy Mullen, who was with her boyfriend Princeton Borough

Councilman Roger Martindell when the dog broke loose.

Martindell said he took “full responsibility for taking the dog down there, tethering him with a 4 foot leash, which broke.”

The child was with her parents, who went to a garden on the grounds of the school on Riverside Drive around 11:30 a.m. Sunday. When they arrived, Mullen and

Martindell were there with the adult dog, which had its leash tied to a picnic table. The dog was able to break its leash, run toward the girl, tackle her,

and bite her on the back, according to police.

“There was no indication the kid antagonized the dog in any way that would cause it to attack her,” said Sgt. Mike Cifelli.

The parents took the girl to the University Medical Center at Princeton, where police were called shortly afterward. The 7-year-old was treated and released

from the hospital later in the day Sunday.

The 7-year-old was holding her mother’s hand and trying to step around the dog when the attack occurred, Cifelli said.