MOUNT VERNON (WABC) -- Police shot and killed a pit bull in
Mount Vernon Monday as the dog was allegedly attacking a man.
But the dog's 10-year-old owner, who was out walking the dog
at the time, and eyewitnesses dispute the claim and say the alleged victim
provoked the attack by hitting the animal with a 2x4 and strangling it.
Kenyatta Ali is still traumatized by what he witnessed on
the 300 block of Union Avenue, where police shot and killed one of his best
friends.
Mount Vernon city officials say that at about 11 a.m., the
pit bull attacked a 29-year-old man and mauled him.
Investigators called it unprovoked, and authorities say
police had no choice but to shoot the dog before it would release the victim.
However, several witnesses say it shouldn't have gotten to
that point, and that it was all a terrible mistake that got horribly out of
control.
"The boy was playing with his dog, and the man thought
the dog was attacking him," witness Jovonne Bourdeau said.
She believes the would-be Good Samaritan, identified as
Jason McCrae, tried to step in and help the boy by beating the dog with the
2x4. That's when the dog bit him.
"It was provoked," Kenyatta's brother Malcolm
Easley said. "If people have sticks, hitting an animal that's not even
his, and got his hands around the dog's neck, what you think you gonna do? Be
bit, right?"
According to police, the dog's owner had previously been
issued violations of animal control laws.
McCrae is still being treated at Jacobi Medical Center in
the Bronx.