(CBS) WAUKEGAN, Ill. A pit bull owner in Waukegan has been charged with reckless conduct after his dogs mauled a little girl.
CBS 2's Dana Kozlov reports the savage attack has some city lawmakers looking to strengthen Waukegan's dangerous dog ordinance.
Fifty stitches and three days after being attacked by two pit bulls, 8-year-old Sierra Riley is recovering while playing with her own dogs. The third grader was playing on the slide at Waukegan's Roosevelt Park Sunday when police say the pit bulls forced open their owner's basement window, ran for the park and attacked.
"I started yelling and I tried to push them off me when they jumped on me," Riley said.
Waukegan Police Department Commander Mark Stevenson said that witnesses describe the situation as "the two dogs playing tug of war with the girl."
The mother of other kids playing in the park pulled Sierra from the dogs, risking her life to save the girl's.
Police then tracked the dogs back to owner Joseph Hernandez's house, where they shot one after both ran for the officers.
"I feel terrible, beyond words," Hernandez said.
Hernandez said he got the dogs two months ago and stresses the incident was an accident.
"They're great dogs," he said. "They've never had this problem before."
Police call it an accident, too, but the attack has renewed aldermanic debate about dangerous dog legislation and pit bulls as pets.
"I've seen that our officers have shot more than a handful of these dogs over the last year," Stevenson said. "So it seems to be a pattern that obviously these dogs are dangerous."
But Riley's mother doesn't believe that pit bulls -- like her own -- should be banned.
"I feel it's the owners, the household, the environment that the dogs are brought up in, and I don't hate the breed whatsoever," Mindy Riley, said.
CBS 2's Dana Kozlov reports the savage attack has some city lawmakers looking to strengthen Waukegan's dangerous dog ordinance.
Fifty stitches and three days after being attacked by two pit bulls, 8-year-old Sierra Riley is recovering while playing with her own dogs. The third grader was playing on the slide at Waukegan's Roosevelt Park Sunday when police say the pit bulls forced open their owner's basement window, ran for the park and attacked.
"I started yelling and I tried to push them off me when they jumped on me," Riley said.
Waukegan Police Department Commander Mark Stevenson said that witnesses describe the situation as "the two dogs playing tug of war with the girl."
The mother of other kids playing in the park pulled Sierra from the dogs, risking her life to save the girl's.
Police then tracked the dogs back to owner Joseph Hernandez's house, where they shot one after both ran for the officers.
"I feel terrible, beyond words," Hernandez said.
Hernandez said he got the dogs two months ago and stresses the incident was an accident.
"They're great dogs," he said. "They've never had this problem before."
Police call it an accident, too, but the attack has renewed aldermanic debate about dangerous dog legislation and pit bulls as pets.
"I've seen that our officers have shot more than a handful of these dogs over the last year," Stevenson said. "So it seems to be a pattern that obviously these dogs are dangerous."
But Riley's mother doesn't believe that pit bulls -- like her own -- should be banned.
"I feel it's the owners, the household, the environment that the dogs are brought up in, and I don't hate the breed whatsoever," Mindy Riley, said.
Even lamer, you don't even have anything to say on the matter. Why show up on a gun forum and copy-and-paste an article about dogs with nothing to contribute? Is this some kind of revenge? Did we go to your forum and copy and paste articles on something totally inane, like an article on how bread is made or something?
