‘Fighting for her life’: Child in medically induced coma after dog attack in Independence
A 5-year-old girl remains in a medically-induced coma, critically injured after a dog attacked and mauled her as she played in the backyard of her Independence home.
The child, identified as Aletha, suffered a skull fracture and a broken collarbone and rib in the Tuesday morning attack, according to a GoFundMe fundraising page set up by the employer of the girl’s father.
Aletha “is fighting for her life in intensive care,” the fundraising page said. Doctors fear she may have suffered brain damage because of the loss of blood and oxygen.
The full extent of Aletha’s injuries is not known, said Brien Pipper, owner of Appliance Care Company in Belton, where her father, Thomas, works as an appliance technician.
The company set up the fundraising page to help Thomas with any expenses he may incur while not being at work and any unexpected medical bills that insurance might not cover.
“We’re just doing our best to help the family right now,” Pipper said. Cash and check donations are also being accepted at The Appliance Care Company’s store at 706 N. Scott Avenue, Belton, MO 64012.
In the latest medical update Thursday, Thomas told Pipper that Aletha underwent surgery to relieve pressure on her brain on Wednesday. Within a few hours, there were encouraging signs, he said. Although Aletha was still on a ventilator, her heart was beating on its own.
Aletha went an extended period without oxygen and lost a lot of blood during the attack, Thomas told Pipper.
“I could only imagine the devastation that is impacting his family,” Pipper said.
‘Latched down on her neck’
The attack occurred shortly after 10 a.m. Tuesday at the family’s home in the 19000 block of East R.D. Mize Road.
Thomas said Aletha was playing in the backyard while his wife was on the back porch, Pipper said. Meanwhile, a neighbor who lived directly behind them recently had a new dog staying with her. Thomas had said that the neighbor’s boyfriend owned the dog.
Detective Jack Taylor with the Independence Police said the dog’s owner doesn’t live in the neighborhood, but the neighbor was watching the dog.
Thomas said the dog had not seemed the friendliest, but there was a fence between the two homes, so he wasn’t overly concerned, Pipper said.
On the day of the attack, the dog jumped the fence and lunged at Aletha, grabbing her by the neck. The dog wouldn’t let go and was just latched down onto her neck, Pipper said.
“It took the dog owner to finally come outside and jump over the fence into Thomas’ property and stick his hands inside the dog’s mouth to pull the jaws off the little girl,” Pipper said. “Then what I understand is that the owner of the dog then picked the dog up and threw the dog back over on the other side of the fence.”
“I’ve never met her, but I hear she’s an angel, and she’s a sweet little girl,” Pipper said.
Pit bull ban lifted
The investigation into the attack is still ongoing, and detectives were not ready to release specific information yet, said Detective Taylor. He said the dog’s breed has not been determined.
Dogs are not required to be licensed within Independence, said Rebecca Gannon, a spokesperson for the city. The city has “Aggressive Dogs” and “Vicious Dogs” sections of its city code since 2017. About a decade before that, a “Dangerous Dogs” ordinance was put into effect.
Last year, the Independence City Council repealed its ban on pit bulls after a petition garnered enough signatures to let voters decide.
In August 2023, the City Council replaced the ban by passing an ordinance that amended the city’s “Dangerous Dogs” and “Vicious Dogs” sections of the city code.
The ordinance makes it illegal for residents to own a dog or allow one on any premises they control that demonstrates the behavior of a dangerous dog unless they have a permit that needs to be renewed yearly. Other conditions apply, including getting the dog identified with a microchip, spayed or neutered and contained in an enclosed structure that it cannot escape.
The owner must also display a dangerous dog sign and have proof of at least $1 million in liability insurance.
A dog is considered dangerous if it attacks and injures a person acting peacefully and lawfully, attacks and seriously injures or kills another domestic animal on property other than the owner’s, or has previously been classified as an aggressive dog.
The ordinance provides exceptions for dogs that were being teased, tormented, abused or assaulted and for those protecting or defending a human being from an unjustified attack or assault.
Gannon said that in Independence in 2023, 16 dogs were deemed aggressive, 14 were deemed dangerous, and four were deemed vicious by a judge.
