Boy Bitten by Pit Bull Is Released by Hospital

Six-year-old Erick Navarro was sent home Sunday morning from Childrens Hospital in Los Angeles, six days after he was mauled by a pit bull that escaped from a fenced yard.

The boy, whose injuries included a fractured skull, a partly torn ear and about a dozen dog bites on his head, neck and shoulders, was grateful for all those who showed they cared about him.

His kindergarten class at Vaughn Street Elementary School decorated his hospital room, and other well-wishers gave him coloring books, stuffed bunnies and Play-Doh.

“He said he was happy and wanted to thank everybody for all the toys,” said Erick’s mother, Raquel Navarro, who wore a pin with her son’s baseball picture on it.

Erick left the hospital with his family and traveled home in style--in a black stretch limousine donated for the ride by a company that had heard about his injuries and wanted to make sure Erick’s trip home was comfortable, Raquel Navarro said.

Erick and his 83-year-old baby sitter were attacked last Monday by a pit bull on the sidewalk in the 13400 block of Desmond Street. The dog’s owner, Jeannette Figueroa, said the dog was “riled up” after her cousin had played with him.

Erick’s baby sitter, Guadalupe Molina, and neighbors put Erick on the roof of a car to keep him away from the dog after the boy was bitten, but the dog then bit Molina and Victor Panos, a 16-year-old neighbor who had come to their aid. Molina suffered bites to her right forearm, left thigh and buttocks and was treated and released from Providence Holy Cross Medical Center. Victor was not seriously hurt.

Erick’s treatment included plastic surgery.

Steve Rutledge, a Childrens Hospital spokesman, said the boy’s ear canal was torn down to the ear drum. But despite his serious injuries, Erick is expected to make a full recovery, Rutledge said.

At home in Pacoima on Sunday, Erick was busy playing with a Star Wars light wand. He squirmed as a photographer took his picture and protested when a relative attempted to take away his toy.

Stitches crisscrossed parts of his scalp and were visible around his ear and left shoulder.

“We thought he wasn’t going to make it,” Raquel Navarro said. “We knew he [would be OK] when we saw he made it through the surgery.”

Molina, who has cared for other members of Erick’s extended family, was hailed as a hero.

“She’s a very strong lady,” said Guillermina Navarro, Erick’s grandmother.

Molina, a petite woman, displayed deep cuts on her right arm and the back of her left thigh, which was also badly bruised. She shrugged and said she was doing fine.

Raquel Navarro said Erick is expected to undergo therapy to help relieve him of the nightmares he’s had since the attack. He is afraid of dogs and afraid to go back to Desmond Street, where Molina lives, she said.

Navarro said one of the reasons she and her husband, Mario Quijano, 30, moved Erick and his sister, Jaqueline Quijano, 4, away from Desmond Street about two months ago was that they feared their children might be bitten by a pit bull. There are many pit bulls in the neighborhood that are not leashed by their owners, she said.

Los Angeles Animal Services officials are investigating the attack. The pit bull will be held by the city until a March 31 hearing when an Animal Services examiner will determine whether the dog is dangerous.