Police Honor South Austin Boy Who Saved His Sister During Pit Bull Attack

SOUTH AUSTIN, TX — Police on Friday honored the valiant efforts of a nine-year-old boy who helped stave of an attack of a pit bull that had taken a hold of his big sister last month.

On Nov. 15 in the 3100 block of Powell Circle in South Austin near Woodward and South First streets. the family dog unexpectedly attacked the boy's sister. Leeland Gonzales ran to aid his sister, Jasmine, during the attack. The children were home alone while their parents went out to get groceries, as the Austin American-Statesman reported.

The boy then managed to distract the vicious animal away from his sister before police arrived and were forced to shoot the animal dead. Jasmine spent eight days in the hospital, after undergoing surgery and required 65 stitches. But she survived the attack, and continues to recover. After saving his sister from further attack, he asked a passerby to call 911.

During a press conference at the family's home on Friday, police honored the boy for his heroic efforts in saving his sister. "I was really scared," the boy conceded during the news conference. "I had jelly legs."

Austin police Assistant Chief Frank Dixon presented Leeland with a certificate of bravery and a special pin while commending his "...critical decision-making and thinking."

“He didn’t freak out or freeze,” Dixon said, as quoted by the Statesman. “He reacted and acted appropriately, ultimately saving a life.”

Despite the level of aggression a dog can sometimes unexpectedly exhibit — even after inflicting harm on a human being — die-hard canine aficionados invariably protest loudly when a vicious animal is killed. That has been the case in Austin, where a series of high-profile dog shootings led police to implement special training for officers two years ago designed to help them deal with aggressive canines using non-lethal force.

The specialized training came in the wake of a string of dog shootings, including a 2013 incident in which a German Shepherd named Shiner Bock was killed by police, prompting the owner to later sue the department. Before that, in April 2012, an responding to a domestic disturbance shot and killed a blue heeler named Cisco, only to later learn he had gone to the wrong address. That same year, a tethered pit bull was shot and killed by an officer responding to a burglary call.

The loss of canine life after such police encounters is always a sad development. But even by the standards of dog aggression, pit bulls are a special case, contributing to 64 percent of all deadly dog bites in the U.S. in an 11-year period, according to DogsBite.org.

Bred to bait bulls more than a thousands years ago in England (hence the name "pit bulls"), the dogs underwent selective breeding in order to ensure the most aggressive progeny. The upshot: The muscular dogs are characterized by four-inch thick jaw muscles and a distinctive biting style that involves holding its prey and shaking until flesh is torn.

In defense of pit bulls, advocates invariably point to other breeds' propensity to bite (chihuahuas often pointed to as prime culprits), but it's the pit bull unique style of biting for maximum effect that distinguishes the breed. The blood sport of "bull baiting" was finally banned in England in 1835, DogsBite.org reports.

But breeders and owners then moved to the "sport" called ratting, where rats were placed in a pit with wagers placed on how many of them could be killed by dogs in a pre-determined time period. In order to enhance agility, the breed was crossed with terriers — yielding the modern-day pit bull terrier.

Since 2005, DogsBite.org has compiled a tally of fatal dog bites in the U.S., including those reported in Texas. Since 2010 alone, several people have been killed by dog bites with the vast majority of those attacks inflicted by pit bulls.

In just over the last 8-years, 34 Texans were killed by dogs and pit bulls were responsible for 76% of the total recorded deaths, according to the website. A partial list by DogsBite.org details deadly dog attacks since 2010 in Texas. :

• 2016 - Baby Jane Doe, 6-days old (College Station, TX)
• 2016 - Erin McCleskey, 36-years old (Travis County, TX)
• 2016 - Antoinette Brown, 52-years old (Dallas, TX)
• 2015 - Tanner Smith, 5-years old (Orange County, TX)
• 2015 - Norberto Legarda, 83-years old (Pecos, TX)
• 2015 - Gaege Ramirez, 7-years old (Canyon Lake, TX)
• 2015 - Brayden Wilson, 2-months old (Dallas, TX)
• 2015 - Betty Wood, 78-years old (Sulphur Springs, TX)
• 2014 - Rita Ross-Woodard, 64-years old (Corpus Christi, TX)
• 2014 - Petra Aguirre, 83-years old (San Antonio, TX)
• 2014 - Dorothy Hamilton, 85-years old (Kaufman, TX)
• 2014 - Raymane Robinson, Jr. 2-years old (Killeen, TX)
• 2014 - Je'vaeh Mayes 2-years old (Temple, TX)
• 2014 - Betty Clark, 75-years old (Canyon Lake, TX)
• 2014 - Christina Bell 42-years old (Houston, TX)
• 2013 - Juan Campos 96-year old (Katy, TX)
• 2013 - Linda Oliver 63-years old (Dayton, TX)
• 2013 - Isaiah Aguilar, 2-years old (Sabinal, TX)
• 2013 - Christian Gormanous, 4-years old (Montgomery County, TX)
• 2012 - Rayden Bruce, 3-months old (Burleson, TX)
• 2012 - Kylar Johnson, 4-years old (Victoria County, TX)
• 2012 - Jace Valdez, 16-months old (Magnolia, TX)
• 2011 - Edna Dyson, 71-years old (Houston, TX)
• 2011 - Mya Maeda, 11-days old (Amarillo, TX)
• 2011 - Donna Conrad, 71-years old (Valley View, TX)
• 2011 - Brayden McCollen, 2-weeks old (Cypress, TX)
• 2010 - Jeannette Vaughn, 3-months old (Harris County, TX)
• 2010 - Kaden Muckleroy, 2-years old (Henderson, TX)

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