"At least five guys tried to take the dog away but he wouldn't let go,”
“One guy grabbed a rock and hit the
dog in the head five times, but he wouldn`t let go.”



NATIONAL CITY, Calif. - A 4-year-old girl suffered extensive injuries after a 65-pound pit bull terrier attacked her in a National City courtyard, police said Wednesday.

The pit bull
terrier mauled Hailey Nunez outside a National City apartment building
shortly before 10:30 a.m. when she tried to pet it in the central
courtyard at the Laurel Avenue complex, where she and her family live,
according to police."At least five guys tried to take the dog
away but he wouldn't let go,” Nunez's uncle Angel Torres said. “One guy
grabbed a rock and hit [the dog] in the head five times, but he wouldn`t
let go.”Paramedics took the girl to Rady Children's Hospital in San Diego, where
she was admitted in serious condition with injuries to her face and
upper body, Lt. Keith Fifield said.

"I wanted to die because when I saw her I couldn`t believe what
happened,” the victim’s mother Ruby Nunez said. ”She had deep cuts under
her nose, her shoulder and under her face.”The 4-year-old is now in stable condition, but her injuries have made her almost unrecognizable, according to her mother.

Officers stopped the owner of the pit bull, 22-year-old Brittany Morgan Gardiner, as she tried to drive away from the complex, where she also lives, according to Fifield.

Gardiner
was booked into county jail on suspicion of child endangerment,
resisting police and allowing a vicious animal to inflict injury, with
arraignment scheduled for Thursday afternoon.The dog was impounded and will undergo a rabies quarantine, after which it likely will be euthanized, the lieutenant said.

Gardiner told officers she had given the neighbor child permission to pet the canine, believing it had no aggressive tendencies, according to Fifield.

http://www.fox5sandiego.com/news/kswb-national-city-attack-pit-bull-mauls-toddler-20121009,0,6712268.story