7 Years After Pit Bull Attack, Victim Speaks Out
Kasey Eyring Speaks OutBaltimore, MD - Seven years ago, a pit bull attacked a little girl named Kasey Eyring. It remains one of the most vicious attacks ever seen in Baltimore. The pictures taken shortly after the incident remain difficult to view. Kasey and her mother recently sat down with reporter Donna Hamilton.
In January 2001, 7-year old Kasey was playing outside her grandmother's home in southwestern Baltimore when a pit bull burst through the neighbor's fence and locked onto her small face. Like many victims of violent trauma, Kasey does not remember details about the attack. Her mother though, recalls the horror of it:
"My husband was just kicking and kicking. They tried metal trashcans they grabbed out of yards, but this dog would not let go. My husband remembered he had a pocket knife with him and started stabbing [the dog] in the neck."
She said that she placed a towel over the left side of Kasey's face. She remembered the men coming in. Her father turned around and walked back out. They couldn't handle it, she said. She looked at the women in the room and the neighbors, and asked them to pray with her. "Pray with me," she said. "And we just started praying."
Dr. Bradley Robertson, who treated Kasey at the Shock Trauma center after the attack said he had never seen an animal bite that bad. "The entire left side of her face, from her ear to the jaw line, and her lip -- all of that was gone." Robertson performed dozens of surgeries to help in the reconstruction.
They nearly lost Kasey that night. They kept her at the hospital for nearly a month after the attack. She has had to return on countless occasions for follow-up operations and procedures. She saw a therapist for a while following the attack, but stopped. Her mother says "she doesn't talk about [the attack] -- at all."
Now 14 years old, Kasey's family said she is often very reserved and quiet. Kasey agreed to the interview because she wants people to know how she is doing since the attack and where she is in her life. She says she likes shopping, and "stuff like that." She said she's just a regular 14-year-old girl with the same problems as everyone else -- mostly.
The photo shows Kasey before the attack, 7 years old.Related articles: 09/20/08:
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