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6-year-old Kannapolis boy recovering from pit bull attack

By Robin L. Gardner | Independent Tribune

Published: March 3, 2009

KANNAPOLIS — Six-year-old Brian Lemus bears the scars on his face and neck from the pit bull attack he suffered almost three weeks ago.
He has a huge smile on his face, and was enjoying cartoons on his second snow day this week.
"He is feeling better. His face was big, but now it is small," Brian's mother, Marcela Bravo, said Tuesday.
The doctors have told Bravo that the scars are healing well.
On Feb. 11, according to Kannapolis Police Chief Woody Chavis, neighbor Nina Barkley's pit bull got free from its chain.
Brian and his older brother Johan, 9, were outside playing with their small dog. Neither boy had seen the big dog before.
"It was the first time we saw the dog. We didn't see him walking, we just heard him barking," said Johan.
They both tried to make it inside the house, but only Johan made it and he told his mother what was happening.
When the mother came out to help Brian, the dog attacked her, too, she said.
She said she used her hands to pry the dog's mouth off her son, and Johan used a broom to beat the dog.
Brian's face was very bloody, his mother said. She suffered minor injuries, but was treated and released.
The boy was taken to CMC-Charlotte for plastic surgery on his face and neck.
"He missed one week of school," Bravo said. "He is afraid of big dogs, but not small dogs."
Barkley's pit bull was taken into custody and euthanized by Rowan County Animal Control.
"She was charged with possession of a dangerous dog," Kannapolis Police spokesperson Capt. Chuck Adams said of Barkley.
"The neighbor came over and apologized to my husband," Bravo said.
"She said, 'I'm so sorry my dog attacked you,'" Johan explained.
The case will go before a judge at 9 a.m. April 8, according to the Rowan County deputy clerk Robin Eisenhour.
Efforts to reach Barkley for comment were unsuccessful.