Cincinnati Police Probe Pit Bull Attacks

Oct. 5, 2005 — -- Authorities are looking for the owner of a pit bull that allegedly rampaged through a Cincinnati neighborhood, biting at least five people and absorbing several shots from a police Taser before being captured.

Police are investigating a witness's account that someone, perhaps the owner, may have "sicced" the pit bull on a female victim, Toni Leonard, who was treated for leg injuries at a local hospital. What's more, police believe Leonard was bitten by the same dog just days before, reported ABC News affiliate WCPO-TV in Cincinnati.

If the attack, which occurred around 8 p.m. Tuesday in Cincinnati's Over-the-Rhine neighborhood, was intentional, the dog's owner could be charged with felonious assault or harboring a vicious animal.

Police suspect the dog was unregistered, Cincinnati police Lt. Kurt Byrd told ABCNEWS.com. Unregistered pit bulls are banned in Cincinnati.

Locals said the pit bull often roamed the neighborhood, and were not quite sure why it attacked its victims -- including a 12-year-old girl bitten on her leg and a 10-year-old boy bitten on his finger.

"The dog was chasing me," Ashley Burns, 12, told WCPO-TV. "I ran on the car and I fell off the car and ran over there, and the dog was biting me."

"I seen the dog loose," said Marquez Coleman, the 10-year-old boy. "So, I jumped on the car and it followed me on the car. And then I pulled my hand down. And it got a grip into my hand, then fell off the car and kicked me in the chin, and I started running."

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Leonard and four other victims were treated at the scene, Byrd said.

When police arrived, they saw the dog chasing Leonard. They said she tried to escape by jumping onto a white car, but the pit bull would not let go of her leg.

"The dog had hold of the lady's leg and was biting it," said police Sgt. Don Scalf. "Officers deployed chemical irritant with no effect, then deployed a Taser, which had partial effect."

The dog ran from the scene and then returned, according to police. One officer, who jumped onto a car, deployed a Taser two more times.

"After everything the officers did, the dog continued to try and fight," Scalf said.

The police managed to get the dog in the back of a police car where it stayed until the SPCA arrived.