Woman charged after son, 4, mauled by Pit Bull

[kahskye]

TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) -- The mother of a 4-year-old boy whose foot was mauled by the family's pit bull puppy was charged with child endangering, authorities said Saturday.

Martina Jennings, 23, took her son to a hospital Friday because his foot was bleeding and told authorities she saw blood on the dog's face and chest, Lucas County Dog Warden Tom Skeldon said. The foot was amputated.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/02/04/mau...rss_topstories

[teonspaleprincess]

Did you read where he said that he questioned whether or not the puppy could have done so much damage because his teeth weren't mature? Are there any other articles that say how old the puppy was? I wonder if something else happened and they just blamed the puppy.

[Lizzie's Mom]

Puppy teeth are extremely sharp. Puppies can do a lot of damage to wood furniture. I can only imagine the damage to a soft, meaty human foot.

[mistivon]

2-4 months....and mom was asleep:

On Friday, Ms. Jennings had told a deputy warden that she awoke and was alerted by another child that her son's foot was red, Mr. Skeldon said.


She said she saw the injury and blood on the dog's face and chest, Mr. Skeldon said.


She apparently took the boy to the hospital and later surrendered the puppy to authorities. Mr. Skeldon's office received a call from Toledo police about 11:45 a.m. and later seized the dog at the family's home.


It was unclear how long the family owned the puppy. Ms. Jennings said the puppy was 2 months old, according to the dog warden, who said he thought it was 3 or 4 months old.

more:
http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll...WS03/702040358

[Indy Gal]

who is to say something else happened and the pup licked the foot.....these da@# people really pis@ me off.....why have any pup with a child with special needs and you are asleep....hopefully cps will look into this woman....not saying she did anything to the baby but she sure made some mistakes....and no i am not talking about the pit bull she shouldnt have any dog aroud a baby like that where there is no adult around to watch...i sadly believe the dog was more than capable just sad it had to be another pit....this is what i havew been saying THESE are the kind of people giving this breed a bad rep....sorry for the rant and hopefully i didnt make anyone mad


eta: just saw the pic and that pit is at least 3 months old =

[Peter Hamilton]

horrible--the poor kid's foot was amputated--jail time for the mother no question--an outrage, this poor kid is a cripple even before his life barely began

[mistivon]

"And if he did do it, it had to take him a long, long time," he said. "So who's checking on this kid?"

The phone rang unanswered at Jennings' home Saturday. Her other children, aged 2 and 8, are with a relative but still in temporary custody of Lucas County Children's Services, said Dean Sparks, the agency's executive director

more:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,250363,00.html

[mistivon]

The mother of a 4-year-old disabled boy who is believed to have had his foot chewed off by a dog Friday was released on bond yesterday from the Lucas County jail after posting $10,000 bond.



Martina Jennings of 1209 St. John Ave. left the jail after visiting Judge Mary Trimboli in Toledo Municipal Court set bond on a charge of child endangering.

more:
http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll...WS03/702060348

[Taximom]

http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs...1128024/-1/RSS

Mother gets 4 years in case of dog chewing off son’s foot

Martina Jennings, 23, of 1209 St. John St. collapsed in the Lucas County Common Pleas courtroom after being handcuffed. She was quickly escorted out by deputies and showed no other emotion.

Jennings pleaded no contest Sept. 18 to child endangering. She faced a maximum of five years in prison.

Judge Linda Jennings said before sentencing that she didn’t believe the defendant Jennings understood the seriousness of what occurred.
(more at link)

[diamondgirl]

a puppy chewing the boys foot like that? The puppy only 3 mos old. A little weird if you ask me. I guess anything is possible. The little boy had to have been crying or yelling.

[imthemom]

Originally Posted by diamondgirl

a puppy chewing the boys foot like that? The puppy only 3 mos old. A little weird if you ask me. I guess anything is possible. The little boy had to have been crying or yelling.

The judge said she didn't believe the story either. The boy did have Spina bifida and could not feel his legs but we are talking about a 3 month old puppy. Now I have two pitbulls and they do like to chew and bite as puppies but they have never tried to chew on my children. They do have very sharp puppy teeth but we always supervise all play between the kids and dogs.

[believe09]

Originally Posted by diamondgirl

a puppy chewing the boys foot like that? The puppy only 3 mos old. A little weird if you ask me. I guess anything is possible. The little boy had to have been crying or yelling.

The boy has spina bifida and supposedly could not feel his lower extremities...I am with the other posters who stated that this must have taken some time for the dog to do. Kudos to the judge for realizing the mom didn't get why this was a big deal...

[Nocgirl]

The mother is 23 and has an 8 year old? Sounds like welfare trash to me.