FLORISSANT, Mo. — A pit bull is plaguing a north St. Louis County neighborhood. One mom tells us it's attacked her daughter twice.
And neighbors who live along Williamsburg Manor in Florissant say no matter how many times they call the police, nothing seems to change.
Minah Cooper, 9, said she doesn’t want to leave the house.
“Because I don't think it's safe for anybody,” she said.
That's because she said she's been the target of her neighbor's dog.
"I just don't want to get attacked again,” she said.
It happened last weekend when she was sitting on the porch. She said the dog got out, charged at her, and ripped her jacket from her waist.
"For a mother to see your child like that, and you have never ever seen. Her face was very red, and it was almost like she fought for her life. That’s how her face looked,” mom Ashley Bell said.
And it's not the first time. They say the same dog attacked last spring as Minah was going to school.
"Came around the front of the bus and knocked her down and started barking viciously,” Bell said.
While the animal has never bitten, other neighbors tell 5 On Your Side they, too, are scared of the pit bull, which runs loose in a community that requires dogs to be on a leash at all times.
"Pit bulls have a bad name, and it's not the pit bulls, it's the owners. They're not properly training them,” Bell said.
Animal control reports show officers have been to the home three times in the last year and a half. A dog was removed from the home last year for an animal cruelty investigation but was returned to the family.
"I feel like it likes to attack people,” Cooper said.
5 On Your Side spoke to the dog's owner off camera. We could hear the dog in the background, but she wouldn't let us meet the dog. She said her dog isn’t a problem and has never bitten anyone.
