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August 5, 2008

Boy mauled by dog

By Kim Sloan

Will Goldman was supposed to begin kindergarten at Northwest Elementary School today.

Instead, the 6-year-old is recovering from an attack by a dog on Tuesday that family members said left severe lacerations on his face. Will’s family said the attack could have been prevented if Murray County Animal Control had answered a family member’s call.

Devon Goldman, Will’s mother, said she called the animal control office at least three times to tell officers about a brown, medium-sized dog that was at their house at 9372 Highway 225 N.

“It was under the porch growling at my cats and my kids,” Goldman said.

Family members said officers never came. About 11 a.m., Will followed his big sister, Bianca, 9, outside when a cat ran out of the house. The dog attacked Will, biting him on the face, splitting his upper lip and puncturing his face just below his left eye, Goldman said. She said she had to grab the dog by its fur and throw it off her son to stop the attack. She said by the time she rescued Will, he had cuts in the back of his head and scratches all over his body from defending himself.

“The dog was as big as he is, if not bigger,” Goldman said. “He’s very tiny.”

Goldman called 911. When police arrived, they had to fight off the dog with baseball bats, Goldman said. Animal control officers then arrived and took the dog away.

Will had emergency plastic surgery Tuesday afternoon and was released from the hospital Tuesday evening.

Goldman’s father-in-law, Mike Goldman, said he thinks something should have been done.

“We are lucky she (Devon Goldman) was there or we wouldn’t be here,” Mike Goldman said at the hospital. “We would be across the street at (the funeral home).”

Mike Goldman said the county should bear the responsibility for the family’s medical costs.

“They were totally negligent,” he said. “Who knows what other kid this could happen to.”

A spokeswoman at Murray County Animal Control referred questions to county sole commissioner Jim Welch.

“I have been in a meeting all day and I haven’t heard anything about it,” Welch said at 4 p.m.

Will is expected to fully recover from his injuries, Devon Goldman said. But he is missing his first day of kindergarten.

“He was excited about going to ‘big boy’ school and riding the bus,” Devon Goldman said.

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