Pit bull mauling of child justifies an investigation

Just a day after the end of National Dog Bite Prevention Week, a 6-year-old Youngstown boy was attacked by his father’s pit bull.

Witnesses say Paul J. Richardson Jr. was tossed around Sunday like tumbleweed, and that the dog had to be beaten with a rake before he would let go of the child.

Ironically, on Saturday, The Vindicator published a front-page story about the dangers mail carriers face from dogs that are not properly restrained.

The story focused on Gary Grim of the U.S. Postal Service’s North Side Youngstown branch who has been attacked by dogs three times in his five-plus years as a mailman. Grim was injured twice.

The story coincided with National Dog Bite Prevention Week and included this comment from Grim:

“Awareness is our biggest concern. Responsi-bility of the owner is important.”

The article noted that 4.7 million people are bitten by dogs each year. In fiscal 2007, there were 119 documented dog related incidents in the Northeastern Ohio Postal District.

Despite such publicity, the attack on 6-year-old “PJ” clearly shows that owners of dogs considered vicious or dangerous need to pay closer attention.

Although PJ’s father was out of town, his stepmother was at home. The tan pit bull is said to have escaped from the backyard pen around 8 p.m. and to have gone after the boy.

He was taken by ambulance to St. Elizabeth Medical Center, while the Mahoning County deputy dog warden picked up the tan pit bull and another black one that was in the house and took them to the pound.

The victim’s grandmother says the boy wants the black dog returned. The animal is reportedly friendly. But before the dogs are given back — or even after they are returned — the warden should determine whether state statutes governing the ownership of legal pit bulls were followed.

Although Youngstown has a tougher law on its books than those adopted by the state, it isn’t being enforced. That’s because city government has not entered into a written contract with the county dog warden.

Liability insurance

Like the state statutes, the city law requires that pit bulls and other such breeds be securely confined, that owners carry liability insurance of at least $100,000 and that each dog be registered with the county dog warden.

But the ordinance also prohibits pit bulls in the city, except for those already licensed.

Finally, Youngstown’s law requires pit bulls to be on a leash no longer that 4 feet; state statutes allow the breed on leashes no longer than 6 feet.

Other Ohio cities have banned pit bulls, including Girard, Lakewood and Warrensville Heights.

In August, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled that a Toledo ordinance restricting one pit bull per one household was constitutional.

The city of Youngstown’s dog law was passed by council in September in response to the large number of attacks by breeds that are temperamentally vicious and large enough to do damage.

Last year, a Youngstown police officer shot and killed a pit bull that tried to attack him on the East Side. A day later, a Rottweiler attacked a 10-year-old boy on the North Side. The next day, dog wardens caught a 220-pound mastiff that was terrorizing another East Side neighborhood.

Vindicator files are jammed with stories about dog attacks, but the one Sunday was especially troubling because of the age and size of the child.

If the owner of the dogs is shown to have violated state laws, he deserves to be prosecuted. It should not matter that the victim was his child.

To repeat what mail carrier Grim said, “Responsibility of the owner is important.”