Michigan 12-year-old girl attacked by dog while riding her bike
LINCOLN PARK, Mich. (FOX 2) - A 12-year-old girl is recovering and afraid to even leave her home after a dog attacked her while she was riding her bike in her own neighborhood in Lincoln Park.
Emma Burgess says she doesn't know what she could have done differently. She was riding her bike on September 13 in near her home in Lincoln Park when a neighborhood dog pulled her from her bike and started biting her leg.
"I saw the dog look at me and grab my leg. Then the owner said don't move so I didn't move," Emma said.
Her father watched in horror as the owner jumped in.
"As soon as I opened up the door and looked to the right, the dog was on my daughter. I immediately jumped off the porch, toward the dog, just started punching, doing anything I could to get the dog off of her," Anthony Burgess said.
Emma's wounds were so graphic, we had to blur many of them.
"There was like 7 large gashes? They're not puncture wounds. The way I describe it to people is it's like biting an apple: You grab it, you take a big bite of an apple that's what it's like," her mom, Melissa, Said.
Emma's currently getting around on crutches and is understandably afraid of something like this happening again.
"I'm still a little bit scared to come outside to get in the car or something because that dog could still be there, I don't know," Emma said.
The dog was quarantined for ten days before police had to legally return the dog to its owner, who received a ticket and order to appear in court.
"This happened about 2 weeks ago we never reached out to social media or the news station until we found out the dog was allowed to come home that is literally 6 houses away. I mean it's scary," Melissa said.
"Now they want me to wait on October 19th court date to do to court and fight it or whatever and plead my case. But do we do until then? Will they even do anything then?" Anthony said.
The Burgess family is hoping to speak at that hearing and show the video of Emma being attacked as well as pictures of her wounds to the judge.
Lincoln Park Police say this is the first time the dog has attacked anyone.