A 4-month-old baby is said to have died on New Year’s Eve due to an incident with a dog, according to PEOPLE. A call was made to 911 around 7 pm on December 31, 2020 after the father woke up and saw a dog lying on top of his infant child. The man was horrified to find that his baby daughter was not breathing and had been lying unconscious the whole time.
“She’s not breathing. My baby ain’t breathing,” the man told the dispatcher. He added that “the puppy was just lying on her” and he didn’t know what happened. The man was crying and begging for help.
Little Raelynn Larrison of Dayton was declared dead at Dayton Children’s Hospital on Thursday night, the Dayton Daily News reported, according to a statement from the Montgomery County Coroner’s Office.
Terrible sadness about the baby, but the comment from the neighbor, Lonnie Dapier, was just strange-They don't know what happened-the dog laying on the baby & accidental suffoction is not the same as dog attacking a baby & where were the parents? https://t.co/pM4wLS3qUo
— Penny Taylor (@GhostWritingUSA) January 1, 2021
The breed of the dog remains unclear, and it has only been revealed that it was a “big” dog. Neighbor Lonnie Dapier, however, said the animal had gotten out of the family’s house before. “It’s a horrible thing if you can’t control an animal. In the first place, children that young shouldn’t have a vicious dog or a big dog like that around them,” Dapier told WRGT. “God bless that child and I just hope they get that dog taken care of one way or the other so it won’t injure anyone else,” he said.
The child’s death still remains under investigation by the Dayton Police Department and the cause and manner of her demise have still not been determined, stated the police.
A GoFundMe page arranged to raise money for Raelynn’s funeral called the death an unexpected tragedy. “We lost our beautiful four-month niece,” the page read. “Please help in any way you possibly can so that we can lay this beautiful girl to rest.” So far, about $6,800 raised out of their goal of $15,000.
In 2019 alone, there were around 48 U.S. dog bite-related fatalities, according to DogsBite.org. Statistics revealed that pit bulls contributed to 69% (33) of these deaths even though the breed makes up only 8% of the total dog population in the US. The website stated: “Annual data from 2019 shows that 27% (13) of dog bite fatality victims were children ages 9-years and younger, 6% (3) were aged 10 to 18-years, a rare age group for dog bite fatality victims, and 67% (32) were adults, ages 19-years and older.”
Dog bite fatalities from 2005-2017. It's the breed. pic.twitter.com/QhbED44eWa
— Beachy Keen (@LABorn100) November 27, 2020
