MANSFIELD — A recent pit bull attack in the city resulted in the injury of a 13-year-old boy. 

In the words of the boy’s father, James Spencer, “If those dogs had one more minute, I wouldn’t have a 13-year-old son,” he said.

Spencer, of Bellville, shared his account of the incident during a Mansfield safety committee meeting on Tuesday.

Spencer is the pastor of Peoples Baptist Church in Mansfield.

“We run church buses in the community and pick up kids in Mansfield every week and take them out to church,” he said.

Working in Mansfield as a pastor for 14 years, he’s noticed an uptick in the amount of aggressive dogs in the city, he said.

Sunday, May 27, he and his son were picking up children in the bus to take them to church. He said his son walked up to one of the residences when a pit bull jumped out of a window. The boy turned to run away when the dog jumped on his back, knocking him to the ground and chewing on his backside, Spencer described.

Soon another pit bull jumped out of the window and lunged straight at the boy’s neck. 

Spencer, who was seated on the bus, put the vehicle in park and rushed to aid his son, kicking one of the dogs away as its mouth was on the boy’s neck.

“These dogs are so powerful,” Spencer said. “My son’s 13, he’s 125 pounds, he lifts weights every morning, he plays football, basketball, he’s very athletic, he’s not a wimpy kid.

“If this had been a 5- or 6-year-old, we would not be talking about someone going to the hospital for stitches.”

Spencer drove his son to the hospital, while his neck was squirting with blood.

“The doctor said it was within, I believe, two centimeters of his carotid artery,” Spencer said. “You see it on National Geographic where one wolf attacks the back of a deer and then another goes for the kill. That is exactly what we saw. There’s no doubt about it.

“There is something that is bred into these dogs that — nobody knows when — but when they decide to attack, they do not attack to play; they attack to kill.”

Mike Kemerer, first assistant criminal law director for the city, said the incident took place at 129 Washington Ave. The dogs’ owner pled no contest to a dog-at-large charge.

A restitution hearing is slated for Aug. 16.

“The current dog-at-large statute that (the city of Mansfield) passed at the request of law director Spon allows for damages in the event of a conviction,” Kemerer said. “Though in court she did tell the magistrate that she is unemployed, so even though the law allows restitution … whether the victim will ever see the restitution is a matter that only the future will tell us.”

The owner was also charged for failing to license her dogs. The case is set for arraignment in two weeks, according to Kemerer.

Kemerer believes the dogs are still in the owner’s home.

He said animal control officers have the authority to designate a dog as dangerous or vicious.

“A dog is dangerous if it causes a human harm; a dog is vicious if it causes a human serious harm,” he said. “Serious harm is defined in the code as harm that requires hospitalization, or puts a person at risk of death.

“The dog warden’s office made the decision that this was a dangerous, not vicious dog. It was their position that because this boy walked away from this, that was not serious harm, merely harm.

“I disagree with that.”

Spencer said, “The dog warden told me the only way that the dog warden would have considered that dog vicious is if it had killed my son in my home.”

City law director John Spon said this incident poses a question for city council.

“Even though we have these vicious attacks, even though a dog warden gets involved after the fact, these vicious dogs are being left in the city after they’ve attacked, after they’ve tasted blood and nearly killed somebody, and we don’t have the legal means right now by ordinance or otherwise to remove an indisputable dangerous animal from our city,” he said.

Cassidy Coleman also addressed city council on Tuesday, saying that her 5-year-old daughter, Railynn, was bit in the face by a pit bull while at work, requiring 30 stitches.

“Because this happened on private property by a dog that was licensed, there were no violations of law,” Kemerer said.

Coleman, of Mansfield, said she has had a pit bull.

“I know how they are, and honestly I was never against them until now,” she said.

Spon said the city of Mansfield was “forced by the courts to open up the floodgates by doing away with the pit bull ban. But what this is doing is it’s now flooding our city with not only regular dogs but pit bulls.

“In light of everything, I’m pleading with city council to fill a position, just for an eight-hour shift a day, five days a week, to give our citizens a phone number that they can call if they see a pit bull or other dogs running free. That we can have an animal control officer go to the residences, find out if they’re registered, find out if they have their rabies shots and if they don’t, they’d have legal authority to take the dogs so that we try to protect our citizens.”

He said the city can look into drafting new laws.

“But unless we’ve got our own animal control officer that can … enforce the law, there’s no protection for the citizens.”

At a December meeting, council voted against a bill that would have created two unfunded animal control officer positions. One position would have been added to the police department’s civilian personnel, with a pay range of $31,200 to $45,864. The second position would have been added to the police department’s safety personnel, with a pay range of $42,167 to $59,528.

Second ward councilman Jeff Rock said about a year ago, a pit bull running at large made it difficult for his wife to leave their home. He called the county dog warden’s office and was told they didn’t have anyone to send out to retrieve the dog and that he should secure the dog if possible.

Deciding against securing the dog on his property, he loaded the dog in his car and drove it to the dog pound. Before arriving, the dog moved from the backseat of the car to the front seat, placing its mouth near his face.

“I was just fortunate that I actually got to the dog warden’s office,” he said. “The dog warden’s not doing what he’s obligated to do.”

Fourth ward councilman Butch Jefferson said information needs to be distributed to pit bull owners that they are responsible for their dogs and should carry some type of insurance.

“Unless they have some knowledge that they will be severely penalized if that dog attacks someone, I mean we’re still just spinning our wheels,” he said.

At-large councilman Don Bryant, who chairs the safety committee, said council is committed to investigating this complex issue.

“This does not fall on deaf ears,” he said. “We hear you.”