Dog that bit girl will be watched for signs of rabies

The child may have to undergo more plastic surgery, her mother says.

By TIM YOVICH

VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF

AUSTINTOWN — If not for a tattoo, the owner of a pit-bull mix that mauled a 6-year-old girl may have never been found.

“Isn’t that a something?” Sheri Foraker, whose daughter Alexis was bitten in the face, remarked about the tattoo.

Alexis was attacked Monday afternoon at Mosquito Lake State Park by a dog that park officials say is owned by Lance Peck, 35, of Champion.

Foraker, of South Inglewood Avenue, said after her daughter was bitten, Peck gathered his children and the dog, put them in his vehicle and drove off.

Peck’s identity at the time wasn’t known.

It took a park ranger only three hours, however, to find him at his Lauder Avenue home in Champion with his dog because of the tattoo.

Tracking him down

Foraker explained Wednesday that a woman who was at the park saw Peck get into his vehicle. She provided a ranger with Peck’s first name and the tattoo parlor where he works because she got a tattoo from him.

That’s how the ranger was able to identify him.

Foraker said she didn’t get the woman’s name, but is grateful.

Peck has not been cited as of Wednesday.

Rocco Grecco, park manager, said no pets are allowed in the beach area where Alexis was attacked. All dogs in the park must be on a leash.

Peck has an unlisted number and couldn’t be reached to comment. A message left at his home for comment went unreturned.

Alexis suffered cuts on both lips, a cut over the right eye and bridge of her nose. She was treated by a plastic surgeon at Akron Children’s Hospital.

“She’s eating better today,” Foraker said. “She’s very quiet,” she said of her daughter’s usually bubbly nature. “She has been a trouper. She has never cried.”

Foraker said Alexis will be seen by a plastic surgeon to determine if any more treatment is needed.

The attack

The day of the mauling, Foraker and her husband, Harry, and their three children, Alexis, Harry, 14, and Travis, 9, were at the park fishing and swimming.

Foraker explained her husband and son Harry were fishing and she was with Alexis and Travis, who were in the water.

She said Peck unleashed his dog so it could swim. She recalled Peck telling some other children who were also swimming, “It’s OK, you can pet it.”

“The dog looked fine,” she added.

Travis, she said, waded over and petted the dog. When Alexis moved closer, the dog lunged at her.

“I thought it licked her face and knocked her back,” Foraker said. “Then I saw blood all over her face.”

“I was shocked. I couldn’t believe it,” she said.

Foraker said Peck responded, “He never did that before. He has never bit anyone.”

Rabies concerns

What Alexis’ parents are concerned about is that park Ranger Mark Stark told them that Peck doesn’t know if the dog has been inoculated against rabies.

Stark told the family that Peck told him that someone gave him the dog and it has no immunization record.

Robert Campana, Trumbull County dog warden, said he picked up the dog Wednesday at Peck’s home and impounded it.

Campana said he holds dogs for 10 days. If they have rabies, they usually become sick and meaner by the seventh day. The pound notifies the Trumbull County Health Department which in turn notifies the family if the dog is rabid.

Dr. Lawrence Frisch, medical director of the Mahoning County Board of Health, said the protocol to immunize a patient against rabies is a series of six injections over three months.

Frisch said one of the injections is in the finger which can be painful, and five in the arm that are not painful.

yovich@vindy.com