An 8-year-old boy was playing in their Clearfield backyard with a friend when his ball unexpectedly went over the neighbor’s fence.

But when he decided to go get it, three pit bulls were apparently in defense and found themselves on top of him, attacking Lindsay Long’s 8-year-son.

“The dogs ran after him,” Long said. “They noticed him, got him to the ground, drug him across the yard a couple feet.”

She heard the accidental chaos and ran over to rescue him, but her son had already been bitten. She said she attempted to put her body between her son and the dogs as barrier between the dogs and his son, but they were ruthless. She ended up throwing her son back over the fence before she escaped the backyard herself.

The boy suffered some soft tissue damage, some abrasions and puncture wounds.

Long said she and her husband have both warned their son not to go into the neighbor’s yard, even if he has permission to retrieve a toy.

The dog owner’s uncle, Richard Palamara, lives in the home. He said to his knowledge, the boy was never given permission.

Palamara said no kids have ever jumped the fence before. He also said any other times the dogs have been around children, they have been friendly.

“They’re good dogs, man; I’m kind of surprised that’s what happened,” he said.

“Something could set them off,” Brian Smith, a Davis County Animal Control Field Supervisor said as when multiple dogs get together, it kinds of create a pack mentality.

That is what concerns the Long family. The mother said she wants the laws changed and made stricter when considering an attack made by multiple dogs.

She also added into the argument that Davis County prohibits homeowners from having more than two dogs in the home, anyway.

At this point, however, she feels the dogs’ punishment does not suit the crime.

“[My son] went through so much trauma, and the fact that these animals are allowed to just stay there and are basically off the hook for attacking my son,” Long said.

Palamara family is trying to work things out with the Longs. He said he feels sorry for what happened.

“I do feel for the kid 100 percent,” he said. “I don’t feel like anybody should deserve what he went through. It must have been traumatic for him.”

Smith said their investigation will be based on evidence and testimony gathered at the scene.

Source: WFTV News