6-Year-Old Mauled By Rottweilers : Animals: Boy playing near his Westminster home is attacked in the street and bitten to the bone by two of the large-jawed dogs. Neighbors who heard terrified screams finally fought them off.

A 6-year-old boy was mauled Friday by a pair of Rottweilers as he played with a friend near his home, police and neighbors said.

The dogs bit Jeffrey Kerley on his legs, arms, stomach, back and buttocks before he was rescued by his sister and some neighbors who heard his screams.

“The dogs were just throwing him around,” said Jeffrey’s 15-year-old sister, Michelle Barker. “One dog was on one leg and the other was on the other leg.”

The incident occurred around 3 p.m. while Jeffrey was playing with a kindergarten classmate in a gutter in front of the dog owner’s house in the 7700 block of 19th Street, said Westminster Police Lt. Bob Burnett.

“Some of the bites exposed the bones of the (boy’s) legs,” Burnett said.

Paramedics rushed the 6-year-old to Humana Hospital-Westminister where he was treated and released in stable condition, a hospital spokeswoman said.

Witnesses told police that the two Rottweilers darted from behind their owners’ six-foot wooden fence and headed directly toward Jeffrey.

Burnett said there was no evidence to suggest that the boys were teasing the dogs. “The kids were in a public (street) and weren’t trespassing.”

Jeffrey, who was wearing swimming trunks, a short-sleeved T-shirt and sneakers, was pinned to the ground as the Rottweilers mauled him.

“They were on either side of him,” said 68-year-old Agnes Souza, who said she heard the boy’s screams from her bathroom. “These dogs were bigger than Jeff.”

Rottweilers are large-jawed dogs that generally weigh more than 100 pounds.

Barker said she dragged her brother away from the dogs and pushed him “into Agnes’ arms.” Barker ran into Souza’s house and dialed 911, she said.

Both Souza and Barker said a neighbor began hitting the dogs with a broom handle to keep them from continuing to attack Jeffrey.

Said Souza: “If we hadn’t gone out there, I think they would have got him more . . . because he couldn’t get them off him. It was a scary situation.”

The dogs were quarantined at their owners’ home. The owners declined to comment on the incident.

But Jeffrey’s parents and neighbors expressed anger at the attack.

“I don’t feel the dogs should live,” said Jeffrey’s mother, Debora Kerley, 32. “I feel if they attack once, they’ll attack again.”

Jack Covy, who lives a few houses away from the scene of the incident, said: “Someone gets hit at a cross street and they put up a stop sign . . . someone gets bitten by a dog and nothing is done. What is going to be done to safeguard the children on this block?”

The boy’s father, Noble Kerley, said his first concern is for his son. “A lot of the neighbors just want to shoot the dogs now. . . . I’ll deal with the dogs later.”

Burnett said animal control officers would decide whether charges would be filed against the owners of the dogs after they complete an investigation.