Pit Bull Owner Arrested for Fatal Dog Attack on 2-Year-Old Step-Grandson

By: Hannah Atkin
Topics: Daily Blotter

(AP)

CONCORD, Calif. (CBS/AP) A California man was arrested Thursday afternoon on suspicion of felony child endangerment and possession of mischievous animals after three of his pit bulls attacked and killed his step grandson.

The 2-year-old victim, Jacob Busbee, was at home Thursday morning with his grandmother, uncle, and 4-year-old brother, when he walked into the garage and was attacked by the family dogs, reports CBS affiliate KPIX. The boy died in the ambulance on the way to the hospital.

Authorities say that the three dogs involved, as well as the family's two other dogs, were all euthanized hours after the boy's attack.

The Step-grandfather, Steven Hayashi, 52, was being held on $250,000 bail.

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by jmharvey01 August 3, 2010 8:26 PM EDT: First of all Dogcentric your website dogsbite.org is a joke. They show a so called pit bull on the front of the website and shockingly like every other pathetic dog bite statistic website its not even a pit bull. So your credibility of actually knowing what a pit bull looks like is a joke. Second if you look up a real website as in humanesociety.org there are 77 million dogs in the us not 50 million. So it's no surprise you just keep making up stats like you pathetic dog bite websites. Again if you look on the humesociety.org website, which is about as credible as your going to get, there are an estimated 10 million pit bulls in the U.S. Your arguments about them being dangerous are to be honest stupid. People like you don't look at reality logically. For every "pit bull" that attacks there are 5 or more other pit bulls that are therapy dogs. The only city that has got it right is San Francisco. They have a law where a pit bull must be fixed. Look up there statistics since they started this law and you will be amazed.; Reply to this comment


by NoelleRossi July 31, 2010 10:00 PM EDT: Stop making up stats about pits!

U.S. Dog Bite Fatalities from January 1 to July 22, 2010
Pit Bulls Killed 67%
Of the 18 fatal dog attacks recorded by DogsBite.org so far in 2010, pit bull type dogs contributed to 67% (12). This is equivalent to a pit bull killing a U.S. citizen every 17 days during this 203-day period.

To see a list of pit bull attacks go to http://pitattacksbystate.blogspot.com/; Reply to this comment


by dogcentric July 29, 2010 3:32 AM EDT: Actually, tiffanyisme's example precisely proves the OPPOSITE of what she states. She talks about a single fatal attack by a pomeranian mix that happened TEN YEARS AGO. The reason she (and many other people) have heard about this attack and are still talking about it ten years later is because it was so unexpected and rare. How many scores of children have died in pit bull jaws in the ten years since that single baby was killed by a pomeranian mix? In constrast to the pomeranian mix attack (which still generates commentary), the typical fatal pit bull attack generates a few local stories and then is forgotten by everybody except those directly involved in the tragedy. This is because fatal pit bull attacks, especially on children, are (sadly) nothing very unexpected or unusual.; Reply to this comment


by tiffanyisme July 28, 2010 12:33 AM EDT: This one goes out to all of you who claim that other dog breeds don't exhibit the same behaviors. You are proved wrong (see especially the second paragraph below).

A 1997 study of dog bite fatalities in the years 1979 through 1996 revealed that the following breeds had killed one or more persons: pit bulls, Rottweilers, German shepherds, huskies, Alaskan malamutes, Doberman pinschers, chows, Great Danes, St. Bernards and Akitas. (Dog Bite Related Fatalities," Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, May 30, 1997, Vol. 46, No. 21, pp. 463 et. seq.) Since 1975, fatal attacks have been attributed to dogs from at least 30 breeds.

The most horrifying example of the lack of breed predictability is the October 2000 death of a 6-week-old baby, which was killed by her family's Pomeranian dog. The average weight of a Pomeranian is about 4 pounds, and they are not thought of as a dangerous breed. Note, however, that they were bred to be watchdogs! The baby's uncle left the infant and the dog on a bed while the uncle prepared her bottle in the kitchen. Upon his return, the dog was mauling the baby, who died shortly afterwards. ("Baby Girl Killed by Family Dog," Los Angeles Times, Monday, October 9, 2000, Home Edition, Metro Section, Page B-5.)

copied from http://www.dogbitelaw.com/PAGES/statistics.html

Really, I believe all this pitt bull stuff all comes down to how ANY dog is raised. Obviously, if someone wants a dog that can do some damage, they will get a strong one (like a pitt) and train it to do bad things. But if someone gets a pitt (someone who KNOWS that dog's past... not a five year old dog with a mystery background) and properly trains it and treats it as a family dog, that dog can become a FABULOUS family member. We have a pitt mix and I wouldn't trade her for any other dog; she's submissive, disciplined, gentle and very loving and affectionate. We got her as a four month old so we know she was not trained by poor owners. I hope this can open your mind, as I used to be an anti-pitt person myself until I asked around and did some resarch and serious thinking on this issue.; Reply to this comment


by dogcentric July 27, 2010 11:43 PM EDT: Uh, Dodo, are you aware that there are literally THOUSANDS of pit bulls who never hurt or killed anybody who die in shelters every week in this country just because of the gross, gross irresponsibility of pit bull breeders? If you are worried about the number of dogs who die, addressing that problem with breed specific legislation is the way to go, not spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to "rehabilitate" dangerous dogs that can never have normal lives.; Reply to this comment

by dodadazer420 July 27, 2010 7:56 PM EDT

euthinized? They did kill but has anyone ever thought of a k9 rehabilitaion center? like a human one only with dogs. they could start off by themselves, with people, another dog (opposite sex), another dog (same sex), multiple dogs, multiple humans, and them children. We don't have to keep killing them, just rais them right

Reply to this comment


by RoastPuppy July 28, 2010 12:27 AM EDT: And just who do you think should finance this K9 rehabilitation center? The taxpayers? They are DOGS, not humans and if a dog bites, it should be shot -- not put to sleep -- SHOT!


by dogcentric July 27, 2010 3:58 PM EDT: By the way, the notion that AmStaffs and APBTs are "not the same" is kind of erroneous. IN fact, the very same DOG can be a champion APBT in the UKC and a champion AmStaff in the AKC and many are.; Reply to this comment


by dogcentric July 27, 2010 3:56 PM EDT: It is true that the VAST majority of pit bulls are not AKC registered (American Staffordshire Terriers or Staffordshire bull terriers) or even UKC registered (American pit bull terriers). Most pit bulls are bred by totally irresponsible breeders who either don't register the dogs at all or register them with fly-by-night or dogfighter-tolerant pit bull only registries.

Despite the fact that they aren't registered, street bred dogs that look like pit bulls have almost always been bred by people who claim to be breeding "pit bulls," and sold as "pit bulls" to owners who want a "pit bull." It is only when the predictable results of all this totally irresponsible breeding reach the headlines in the form of a dead two year old that the pit bull community (also totally predictably) claims that the dogs involved are not REALLY pit bulls.

But, hey, have it your way. Let's call these non-AKC or UKC-PR registered dogs "dogs that breeders claim falsely to be pit bulls and sell to stupid, unwitting people as pit bulls." In THAT case, that gives us consumer protection as one more reason to regulate the breeding of these dogs beyond the already stated reasons of community safety and protecting pit bulls.

So are you in favor of legislation that requires the microchipping of all pit bulls and pit bull mixes and "dtbfctbpbs&stsupapbs" (see above paragraph) and mandatory spay/neuter of all such dogs except AKC and UKC-PR registered show dogs? If not, why not?
why would you want to protect people who claim to be breeding pit bulls but who are not (according to you) REALLY breeding pit bulls?; Reply to this comment


by BullyLover16 July 27, 2010 9:58 AM EDT: What is a pit bull?
The term "pit bull" does not always refer to the American Pit Bull Terrier, which is a breed of dog recognized by the United Kennel Club and the American Dog Breeders Association. More commonly, it is used informally to describe a type of dog that encompasses several similar breeds, including the American Pit Bull Terrier, American Staffordshire Terrier and Staffordshire Bull Terrier. Those dogs share some physical characteristics, but they're not the same.
There is a lot of confusion, even among dog experts, about what a pit bull is exactly. In general, pit bull-type dogs are medium-sized, around 35 to 55 pounds, with short coats and wedge-shaped heads. They are considered affectionate, loyal and strong. Taken as a group they are by some estimates the most common and popular dog in the history of the United States. American Pit Bull Terriers are slim,
athletic dogs, and according to the breed standard should never be muscle-bound, overly large or aggressive to people. Picture Petey from The Little Rascals.
And yet stories of pit bull maulings abound in the media. In many of those cases, the dogs turn out to be boxers, mastiffs, American bulldogs, or some other strong, big-headed breed. Often, they are mixed breeds of indeterminate lineage.
Studies using DNA analysis have shown that adoption agencies guessed a dog's breed wrong 75 percent of the time. Owners, neighbors, bystanders, police and newspaper reporters likely fare no better.; Reply to this comment


by dogcentric July 27, 2010 7:47 AM EDT: jmharvey tells us that there are "10 million" pit bulls in this country. That is absurd. Nobody knows how many pit bulls there are, but there aren't that many because that would mean that 20% of the estimated 50 million dogs in this country are pit bulls.

Jm also tells us that there were "only" five people killed by pit bulls last year. Even if that were true, that would be a hugely disproportionate number of people killed by one breed. We know, for example, that there are a lot of labradors in this country, and nobody would argue that five labradors killed people last year.

But Jm's figures aren't true. Go here to see a complete list of fatalities last year: http://www.dogsbite.org/bite-fatalities-2009.htm There were 32 of them, of which FOURTEEN are attibutable to pit bulls and pit bull mixes.

Maybe you want to quibble about the breed in some of these reports, JM, but tell me EXACTLY which NINE of them you claim were really, uh..."boxer mixes."

Sorry, but pit bull dangerousness is an undeniable fact. It is time to move on and figure out what to do about it.; Reply to this comment