Mother And Two Children Survive A Brutal Attack By Neighbor’s Dog

A South Carolina mother and her two children are recovering after being attacked in late April by a pit bull while trying to help an elderly neighbor with dementia.

Bethany Hastings said the family had gone outside and found their neighbor who had wandered onto their property. Hastings said she and her two children took the woman home in their golf cart, and when they arrived, their neighbor’s pit bull was loose.

“He came running over to us and jumped in the golf cart,” Hastings said.

Hastings said the dog went for her 2-year-old son and then her 4-year-old daughter.

“First he got my brother, and then second he got me, and then third he got my mom,” 4-year-old Lainey Bayles said.

Hastings, who is a nurse, said she managed to get the dog away from her kids and held him down for 15 minutes until help arrived. She said during that time the dog continued to attack her.

“I didn’t have a choice,” she said. “If I had let go, he would have gotten me or them again.”

All three were taken to the hospital where Hastings and her son were released that night but Lainey spent four days in the hospital with two of those being in the pediatric intensive care unit. Lainey will have to undergo several procedures throughout the coming year.

Authorities say the dog was euthanized.