S.F. boy, 12, killed by pet dog
OFFICERS SHOOT PIT BULL TO ENTER APARTMENT WHERE YOUNGSTER HAD BEEN FATALLY MAULED
By Sandra Gonzales and Kellie Schmitt
Mercury News
After a frantic 911 call from a hysterical woman, San Francisco police found a 12-year-old boy mauled to death by the family's pit bulls in their apartment near Golden Gate Park on Friday.
Police arrived at the small apartment building on Lincoln Way to find one of the two dogs -- a fawn-colored female -- blocking the entrance to the apartment. An officer shot it dead to gain entry, San Francisco police Sgt. Neville Gittens said.
Once inside, paramedics attempted to resuscitate the boy but failed.
Police would not release his name, but the principal at Roosevelt Middle School identified him as Nicholas Faibish, a sixth-grader whom friends called ``Nicky'' or ``Nick.''
A second pit bull that may have played a part in the attack also was in the apartment and was taken into custody by San Francisco Animal Care & Control. Police say that each dog weighed about 80 pounds.
Outside the two-bedroom apartment, officers stood guard and cordoned off the area as sympathetic passersby placed bouquets of flowers on the sidewalk in front of the Selva Vista apartment building across from Golden Gate Park in the city's Inner Sunset district.
Neighbors said the boy lived at the complex with his brother and sister, his parents and their two pit bulls, Rex and Ella.
``He was a very bouncy and friendly, freckled young man -- always with a smile,'' said Diane Panagotacos, the principal at Roosevelt. ``Every interaction I had with him was a pleasant one. It's a shocking tragedy.''
Panagotacos said Nicholas was not at school Friday, and she believed the family was preparing to move from the area.
Anne Sausser, whose boyfriend lives in the same building, said she often heard the dogs in the apartment below his but was shocked to learn of the brutal attack.
``They never bothered anyone. They seemed sweet,'' said Sausser of the pit bulls. She described the children as ``crazy kids always playing.'' Thursday night, however, Sausser recalled hearing a scuffle between the dogs and the children.
San Francisco police Sgt. Jeremiah Morgan said he did not know whether the dogs were provoked, nor would he provide further details about the attack.
No one has been taken into custody, but detectives ``are conducting a homicide investigation,'' Police Chief Heather Fong said.
Not long ago, neighbors told the Associated Press, Nicholas and his brother found a patch of wet cement where the sidewalk was being repaired and scrawled the words ``Rex SF.'' Neighbors said the boys wanted to immortalize the name of their dog.
Friday's dog mauling was reminiscent of the attack in another San Francisco apartment building four years ago.
In January 2001, a pair of 120-pound Presa Canario dogs attacked Diane Whipple, a 33-year-old lacrosse coach, in the hallway of her San Francisco apartment building in a brutal case that drew national attention.
Whipple's death led to the rare second-degree murder conviction of the dog's owner, Marjorie Knoller. She and her husband, Robert Noel, were also found guilty of involuntary manslaughter and of having a mischievous animal that killed a human.
In the wake of her death and the pit bull attack on 10-year-old Shawn Jones of Richmond in 2001, lawmakers toughened penalties against owners of vicious dogs. Shawn was disfigured when he was mauled by three pit bulls.
As of 2002, however, dog owners could face a felony charge regardless of whether the attack results in death and if prosecutors could prove the dog has had a history of violence. Previously, it was considered a felony only if the attack proved fatal.
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercu...a/11814584.htm
OFFICERS SHOOT PIT BULL TO ENTER APARTMENT WHERE YOUNGSTER HAD BEEN FATALLY MAULED
By Sandra Gonzales and Kellie Schmitt
Mercury News
After a frantic 911 call from a hysterical woman, San Francisco police found a 12-year-old boy mauled to death by the family's pit bulls in their apartment near Golden Gate Park on Friday.
Police arrived at the small apartment building on Lincoln Way to find one of the two dogs -- a fawn-colored female -- blocking the entrance to the apartment. An officer shot it dead to gain entry, San Francisco police Sgt. Neville Gittens said.
Once inside, paramedics attempted to resuscitate the boy but failed.
Police would not release his name, but the principal at Roosevelt Middle School identified him as Nicholas Faibish, a sixth-grader whom friends called ``Nicky'' or ``Nick.''
A second pit bull that may have played a part in the attack also was in the apartment and was taken into custody by San Francisco Animal Care & Control. Police say that each dog weighed about 80 pounds.
Outside the two-bedroom apartment, officers stood guard and cordoned off the area as sympathetic passersby placed bouquets of flowers on the sidewalk in front of the Selva Vista apartment building across from Golden Gate Park in the city's Inner Sunset district.
Neighbors said the boy lived at the complex with his brother and sister, his parents and their two pit bulls, Rex and Ella.
``He was a very bouncy and friendly, freckled young man -- always with a smile,'' said Diane Panagotacos, the principal at Roosevelt. ``Every interaction I had with him was a pleasant one. It's a shocking tragedy.''
Panagotacos said Nicholas was not at school Friday, and she believed the family was preparing to move from the area.
Anne Sausser, whose boyfriend lives in the same building, said she often heard the dogs in the apartment below his but was shocked to learn of the brutal attack.
``They never bothered anyone. They seemed sweet,'' said Sausser of the pit bulls. She described the children as ``crazy kids always playing.'' Thursday night, however, Sausser recalled hearing a scuffle between the dogs and the children.
San Francisco police Sgt. Jeremiah Morgan said he did not know whether the dogs were provoked, nor would he provide further details about the attack.
No one has been taken into custody, but detectives ``are conducting a homicide investigation,'' Police Chief Heather Fong said.
Not long ago, neighbors told the Associated Press, Nicholas and his brother found a patch of wet cement where the sidewalk was being repaired and scrawled the words ``Rex SF.'' Neighbors said the boys wanted to immortalize the name of their dog.
Friday's dog mauling was reminiscent of the attack in another San Francisco apartment building four years ago.
In January 2001, a pair of 120-pound Presa Canario dogs attacked Diane Whipple, a 33-year-old lacrosse coach, in the hallway of her San Francisco apartment building in a brutal case that drew national attention.
Whipple's death led to the rare second-degree murder conviction of the dog's owner, Marjorie Knoller. She and her husband, Robert Noel, were also found guilty of involuntary manslaughter and of having a mischievous animal that killed a human.
In the wake of her death and the pit bull attack on 10-year-old Shawn Jones of Richmond in 2001, lawmakers toughened penalties against owners of vicious dogs. Shawn was disfigured when he was mauled by three pit bulls.
As of 2002, however, dog owners could face a felony charge regardless of whether the attack results in death and if prosecutors could prove the dog has had a history of violence. Previously, it was considered a felony only if the attack proved fatal.
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercu...a/11814584.htm
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