Fontana police looking into charges in mauling of girl
Lori Consalvo, Staff Writer
Posted: 02/02/2010 05:03:12 PM PST
The Fontana Police Department is working with the San Bernardino County district attorney's office to look into possible criminal charges concerning the owner of the dogs who attacked a mother and her children Monday.
At the very least, police can ticket the owners for not maintaining their property so that the dogs could not escape and cause harm to someone, which is a law within the city, Fontana Sgt. Jeff Decker said.
"We do know the dogs escaped from the backyard, which is different from someone who sicked a dog on a person," Decker said.
Police can also cite the owners for the number of dogs they kept on their property.
"There is a limit of three dogs, so they are in violation of that," Decker said. "But that might be small potatoes to what other issues might be looming."
The district attorney's office is looking into what's applicable in terms of charges. Decker said a decision could be made within the next two days.
The attack happened just before 5 p.m. when the woman and her four children were walking along some railroad tracks on Tokay Avenue south of Arrow Highway.
Five dogs got out of their yard through holes in a fence and attacked three of the children.
One of the children, a 5-year-old girl, was on life support Tuesday in a hospital, police said. The other two children had serious leg injuries.
The dogs are being kept by the San Bernardino City Animal Control Shelter.
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