Pit Bull Terrier Mauls Girl’s Leg

The pleasant calm of an afternoon on the grass outside the Rose Bowl was shattered Sunday by the screams of a 15-year-old girl, as a pit bull terrier suddenly lunged at her leg and would not let go.

The girl, whose name was not released by Pasadena police because of her age, had been walking with a 16-year-old friend.

Not far away, members of the Pasadena Soaring Club were practicing with their model gliders.

Later, several of them remembered seeing a man pass them with a big dog he seemed to have trouble controlling. Within moments came the screams, they said.

“For some unknown reason the owner of the pit bull ordered the dog to chase the girls,” Pasadena Police Sgt. Bruce Linsenmay said.

“I ran out there with another guy,” said glider pilot Peter Clemens of Los Angeles, “and with us and the owner hauling, finally got the dog off the girl. It mauled her right leg.”

The owner of the 4-year-old dog, Kevin Lawrence, 25, of Los Angeles, was arrested and booked for investigation of assault with a deadly weapon, Linsenmay said.

The girl was taken to Huntington Memorial Hospital, and was described by a spokeswoman as in fair condition before being transferred to Kaiser Foundation Hospital.

The dog was taken to the Humane Society of Pasadena.