Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
SANDY — A family is waiting to find out the fate of a dog they said attacked multiple people in their neighborhood, including their 8-year-old son.
They also shared concerns about the dog's owner, as prosecutors look over the case.
On Wednesday evening Daniel Anderson inspected his son's leg.
Jeffery's left leg was wrapped in a bandage. Anderson explained he has to change the bandage out every night and every morning and apply ointment to his son's injury.
Gently unwrapping the bandage and lifting off the gauze pads underneath, Anderson exposed a nasty-looking wound. A large chunk of Jeffery's skin was missing and completely scabbed over.
The wound created a sizeable indent in Jeffery's leg.
"That's a lot better than what it looked like when it first happened," Anderson said, looking over the side of Jeffery's calf.
Jeffery, whose nickname is JT, explained the injury was feeling better, too.
"The first night, it was like I couldn't even walk," the 8-year-old said.
The father and son recounted how a couple of weeks ago, the neighbor's pitbull escaped from their duplex. The two families live in the same building, and the front doors sit next to each other.
Apparently, the dog ran outside from the neighbor's open door as Jeffery was walking up to his door.
"The dog kind of ran out, grabbed my leg, started shaking it," Jeffery explained.
He said he started to scream. Anderson was just a few steps away and said it took a good minute and a half to try to get the dog to release its bite.
"Everybody was trying to get the dog off, and I was just sitting there, just screaming in pain, trying to get the dog off myself a little bit," Jeffery said. "But it just wouldn't let go."
After the owners got control of the dog, Anderson rushed Jeffrey to the emergency room, upset.
"My natural thoughts, at that point, were just like, how? How did it let it go this far?" Anderson questioned.
He explained that last July, the dog escaped from where it was tied up in the front yard as Jeffery was playing hacky sack in the neighborhood.
"It attacked JT on his left wrist while he was outside playing with some friends," Anderson said. "Luckily, that was just a puncture. We were able to just take him into the ER. They looked at it, we got some antibiotics, we let that heal up."
I would definitely say I'm hoping the dog's not come back.
–Daniel Anderson
Anderson said at the hospital, he filled out a form for Sandy City Animal Services and said the hospital told them they'd report it to animal control, but he wasn't sure what came of it.
According to Sandy police, they don't have that July incident on record.
However, police told KSL-TV that the same pitbull attacked someone in August, and animal services gave the owner a citation.
Anderson said that was another neighbor's child in a duplex near theirs. He also said the pitbull killed the other neighbor's Chihuahua. Sandy police could not confirm if the August attack included the death of another dog.
Animal Services again cited the owner for the early January incident with Jeffery for having an animal at large and for an attack on a person.
Sandy police said the case has been referred to justice court and is now in the hands of a prosecutor.
Anderson said he doesn't blame the dog or the breed but feels full responsibility is on the owner — who Anderson said hasn't offered to help.
"Just knowing that the dog keeps escaping and we've had multiple issues, it should have been something that's addressed to where the dog couldn't keep doing this," he said.
Sandy police said a judge will now decide what happens with the dog. If the dog is released back to the family, a judge could potentially impose rules to prevent future attacks.
Anderson and Jeffery don't think that will be enough to keep people safe.
"I would definitely say I'm hoping the dog's not come back," Anderson said.
They're now paying for Jeffery's medical bills, and Anderson said they currently don't have insurance. He said it's possible Jeffery will need a skin graft, and started a GoFundMe campaign* to help with his son's care and healing.
*KSL.com does not assure that the money deposited to the account will be applied for the benefit of the persons named as beneficiaries. If you are considering a deposit to the account, you should consult your own advisers and otherwise proceed at your own risk.
