St. Paul man charged with misdemeanors in dogs’ attack on girl, 7

Mara H. Gottfried, Pioneer Press
Updated ·2 min read
3

Prosecutors recently charged a St. Paul man with misdemeanors after his five dogs escaped his yard and attacked a 7-year-old girl.

The dogs bit pieces of her nose, ear and thigh off, a sibling of the girl wrote on a fundraising page.

A neighbor’s doorbell camera captured the incident in Frogtown and another witness identified the dogs’ owner as a 37-year-old man who lives nearby, according to a criminal complaint filed Friday.

The man told police he let his dogs out on Feb. 8 and didn’t realize the gate was open.

The girl was walking home from her school bus stop with a parent when the dogs suddenly attacked her in the 600 block of Van Buren Avenue. The child’s parent struck the dogs to try to get them off her.

The attack stopped when a person — later identified as the dogs’ owner — driving a vehicle honked its horn, causing the dog to run away. The dogs’ owner was seen exiting his vehicle briefly before reentering and driving in the direction of the dogs.

Police have said the dogs’ owner allowed St. Paul Animal Control to take the dogs the next day. He was only able to provide proof of rabies vaccine for two of the dogs, did not have a license for any of dogs, and hadn’t applied for a permit allowing him to own more than three dogs, the complaint said.

Animal Control declared the dogs dangerous on Feb. 13, after which the owner surrendered them to Animal Control and they were euthanized.

The fundraiser for the girl is to ensure she gets access to a plastic surgeon “to make sure that she has no more scarring than is possible since she has injuries to her face,” according to a fundraising page at gofundme.com/f/4qxmd-help-sumaya started by her sibling.

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