Dog in service vest attacks 3-year-old in Texas restaurant, family says
A 3-year-old girl is recovering after her family says she was attacked by a dog at a Texas restaurant Saturday.
Cleveratta Waldroup and her family had just walked into Loose Caboose in Spring when she says the unthinkable happened: A dog attacked her toddler, Ronin, KRIV reported.
“[The dog] grabbed her by the face and he shook her and I saw my baby hit the ground like a little rag doll,” Waldroup told the outlet. “The first thing my best friend did was grab her and put her in my arms.”
Waldroup said the dog was wearing a service vest and was on a leash held by a woman, according to KRIV.
“It had a hold of her face and shook her,” Kimberly Parker, a family friend who witnessed the event, told KTRK. “The lady pulled on the leash, the dog released her and she just dropped.”
Waldroup rushed Ronin to the restroom to tend to her injuries and told the girl’s father, James Waldroup, what had happened, according to the outlet.
He reportedly chased the woman down the street to her vehicle and told her she needed to stay, KTRK reported.
Cellphone video of James Waldroup’s interaction with the woman shows her getting into a car as he yells for her to stop, according to KPRC.
“I started yelling at her, ‘You can’t leave, this is an accident. You can’t leave.’ She had the gall to turn around and tell me it was my daughter’s fault,” James Waldroup told the outlet.
He added that witnesses said Ronin didn’t reach for the dog, but that she brought her hand to her own face before the dog “leaped toward her,” KPRC reported.
Ronin’s jaw was injured and she suffered a large bite on the side of her face, the news station reported. She received 20 stitches.
“Right now, she’s going to be in a lot of pain, she’s in a lot of pain,” Cleveratta Waldroup told KPRC.
The Harris County Sheriff’s Office said it knows who owns the dog and that officials are scheduled to meet with her, KTRK reported. Officials said information from that meeting will be passed along to the district attorney’s office to determine if charges will be filed.
The family says they want the woman held accountable.
“For them to not show any compassion or any remorse to even stop and ask if my baby was OK, it goes beyond words,” Cleveratta Waldroup told KTRK.
Spring is just north of Houston.
This story was originally published January 12, 2021 at 6:20 AM with the headline "Dog in service vest attacks 3-year-old in Texas restaurant, family says."