Detroit boy, 12, hailed as hero for saving younger siblings from dog attack
DETROIT – A Detroit student is recovering at home, bandages wrapping his left leg, after a vicious attack by a pit bull-mix, and the teachers at his school are not only hoping he gets better, but calling him a hero.
Deacon Ashmore, a sixth grader, was playing outside Monday afternoon, riding bikes and running around with his 9- and 7-year-old sisters, 5 year-old brother, and some other kids, when two dogs got loose.
"I looked around and saw these dogs running toward us," Deacon said Wednesday, adding that his younger siblings ran inside the house while he stood his ground. "I kinda held off the dogs a bit."
Deacon's mother, Elisabeth Ashmore, who witnessed the attack said her son "jumped in front of all the other kids and made sure they could run home really fast before the dogs got them."
"But," she added, "he ended up getting attacked."
As the dog bit down into his left calf, Ashmore said, her son screamed — "Bad dog! Bad Dog!" — and hit the animal until it released its grip, and he could get away.
Deacon's mother said her boy's little leg was full of puncture wounds. She could see his bone. Blood spurted everywhere. She wrapped his limb with two bath towels, which were soon drenched.
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One of his sisters said it looked like his "guts were coming out of his leg."
Dog attacks by pit bulls in Detroit — and nationwide — have long fueled controversy about the muscular short-haired pets. The latest incident revives questions about dangerous dogs in the city and what should be done about them.
Ashmore said she did not call the police — or animal control — because, where they live, cops usually don't respond unless someone is shot and dying. She and her husband, Peter, also were focused on rushing their son to the hospital.
Lori Sowle, with Detroit's animal control, confirmed through a statement the family didn't report the incident, but a social worker notified the city of the attack on Tuesday and an investigation of the incident was opened.
More than 400 dog bites were reported to the city in 2020, according to city data.
Deacon fortunately had no broken bones, his mother said.
At the hospital, he got tetanus and rabies shots. Plastic surgeons worked to repair damage to his tendons, ligaments and muscle. The hospital kept the boy overnight and released him the next day.
"He's going to make a complete recovery and be just fine," Ashmore said Wednesday. "He's home on crutches. It could be a couple of weeks. I'm not even sure how many stitches they ended up putting in."
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But, she added, the two dogs are now gone.
Ashmore said she doesn't know where they went, but a neighbor — for whom the family didn't want to cause trouble — expressed regret and remorse, and offered to pay for her son's medical expenses.
Members of their church also set up a gofundme.com account for donations, but also welcomed prayers for the boy, so his spirits "stay up and his leg heals without complications."
Other dogs are still out there, and the kids are all traumatized.
Peter Ashmore said dangerous dogs have been an issue in their neighborhood, and it wasn't a surprise that there was an attack. He added that he doesn't know the solution to the problem, but he doesn't want to see "other families go through this."
Before the pandemic, some officials said Detroit faced a problem not just with strays but also irresponsible pet owners who leave their dogs unattended for days at a time in unsecured yards where they can easily break free and potentially attack people.
Two years ago, a pit bull in Hazel Park mauled a 4-year-old to death. The 60-pound animal pounced on the child, and his mother tried to fight off the dog, stabbing it, first with nearby scissors, then with a steak knife.
Pit bulls, according to DogsBite.org, a Texas nonprofit that supports restrictive dog ordinances, are often used in dogfighting. They also top lists of biting incidents in several states, including Michigan, the organization said.
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But groups that favor pit bulls say that the dogs have been unfairly portrayed as dangerous or aggressive and are often victims of abuse, especially by owners who exploit them.
Moreover, these groups argue that pit bulls are not involved in biting incidents any more than other types of dogs. Restrictive laws and bans, they add, do not work because they don't address the real problem: irresponsible dog ownership.
Elisabeth Ashmore credited her son, who was adopted as a baby from Ethiopia, for being tough.
"He was only thinking of his little brother," she said. "He just kept saying, 'I know Kingston wouldn't have survived if the dogs would have attacked him.' For him, it wasn't a second thought, that's the kind of big brother he is."
Deacon's dad added: "I joke with people he's my hero, because he really is."
Katie Harger, a sixth grade teacher at Deacon's school, wrote in an email to the Free Press, which like Paste BN is a part of the Paste BN Network, that she wasn't sure about the details of the dog attack, but praised Deacon as a conscientious student who sacrificed himself to protect others.
Deacon, Harger said, is the kind of boy who reminds other students in Zoom chats to "keep things respectful and relevant." She added she hoped he would be recognized because this week he did "something truly heroic."
Follow Frank Witsil on Twitter: @fwitsil.