But many believe the boy’s parents are just as responsible for the unfortunate incident.
Cole and his five-year-old son were with their dog at the Bark Park at Diamond Head Tuesday when their afternoon turned into nightmare.
"I turn around and see my son talking to this gentleman with a very large dog and so I start walking towards them and next thing I know my son is turning around screaming coming at me with a gash in his face," said Cole. "The top teeth gouged his cheek the bottom teeth sank in under the chin."
His son suffered a four-inch gash on his cheek that required 12 stitches. Two other stitches were for puncture wounds on his chin.
"He didn’t run at the dog, he didn’t try and hit or slap or poke or provoke the dog in anyway," said Cole.
But witnesses saw things differently.
"He was probably about there, " said Amy Kawaguchi showing the child came within several inches of the dog. "Like just in the dog’s faces apparently he did it to all the dogs in the dog park."
Witnesses say the boy’s father was not near the child and that the Saint Bernard was still on a leash. Bark Park founder Clark Hatch believes the dog had no history of being agressive.
"I don’t think the owner of the dog was in violation of any law," said Clark. "We have rules and regulations on the board there, you enter at your own risk and you should make sure that your child is attended to children under 10 aren’t recommended to come in."
"It’s written on the sign you know you come in at your own risk," said Kawaguchi. "You have to make sure that you keep an eye on your dog and on your kids if you bring them in. The guy though was really apologetic, the one with the Saint Bernard he was like I’m really sorry what can I do."
Cole was unaware of the rules.
"No I did not," said Cole. "However, my stance on that is regardless where we are, regardless what’s going on, the bottom line is dog owners are responsible for the actions of their pets. My son has been exposed to dogs all his life, he knows you just don’t go up and pet or hug a strange dog."
Cole filed a police report. He says the case was classified as an accident.
"It really doesn’t seem like anything criminal, it seems like a civil matter but hopefully both parties can work it out," said Keoni Vaughn of the Hawaiian Humane Society. "Dogs get spooked in different ways. If the victim does want to file a complaint with us then we could go that route."
"We do hope that the child is well and the two dog owners will get together and talk it over and see how to resolve this," said Hatch. "Hopefully he heals up quickly and that he doesn’t become afraid dogs."
Cole is aware there will be critics out there.
"I know everyone is going to speculate this or speculate everyone will have their opinions but it actually happens to you, your opinion is not valid," said Cole. "Unless you’ve experienced something like this or to this magnitude, unless you’re put into that situation which I don’t wish on anyone, I think whatever speculation you may have is irrelevant."
The dog’s owner declined to comment. Hatch says there have been three other incidents in 13 years.
"He’s doing as best that can be expected, you know 5-years-old he’s got a firm grasp of reality of what happened to him," said Cole. "Hopefully everyone can learn from this, unfortunately my son was the one that had to pay the price. He’s emotionally and physically scarred."
See the original article at: KHON2 Local News
