9-year-old girl's neck ripped apart by three pit bulls after being pulled off her bike, dogs' owner arrested
MICHIGAN: A nine-year-old girl child was pulled off her bike by three pit bulls which ripped her neck apart, killing her. Little Emma Valentina Hernandez was riding her bike behind her house when the horrific incident took place.
Hernandez was attacked by the dogs behind her house in Detroit, Michigan on August 19 when she was seen by a neighbor. The neighbor, Edward Cruz saw the attack and tried to throw bricks at the dogs but to no avail. As reported by Metro, Cruz shaid, "I went outside, I saw three dogs on top of a little girl. I had no hesitation but to run, so I picked up a brick and threw it at the dogs. It was painful. I don’t like it one bit. I hate it that it happened to her."
Another neighbor, Deborah Golden ran to try and help the girl but her neck was hanging off and she was not conscious. Golden still tried to help her and told her father to hold the side of her neck and put a T-shirt on the side. Hernandez's father, Armando spoke to WWJ-AM and said that he tried to do everything to save his child. "I tried CPR. I tried helping her. I did everything I could do in my power. She was gone when I reached her," he said. The neighbors started shouting at the dogs as paramedics arrived on the scene and tried to revive the child.
As reported by the Detroit Free Press, Detroit Deputy Fire Commissioner Dave Fornell shared that the first unit to arrive immediately started CPR and were performing EMS under gunfire. One dog was reportedly shot while the other two were quarantined by the Detroit Animal Control. An unnamed 33-year-old man who was the dog's owner was then taken into police custody. It is not known whether he was charged.
Hernandez was rushed to the Children's Hospital of Michigan where she was declared dead. Her family started a GoFundMe page to pay her funeral costs. The child's father Armando shared that he had an argument just last week regarding the dangerous dogs and how they were not restrained properly. "I knew the dogs were there. I knew the neighbor... he just didn’t take care of his dogs properly. He could have prevented this," he said.