# Mom locks kid in basement. Kid gets loose, and is killed by family's pit bulls. WTF. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 12, 2005, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mom-locks-kid-in-basement-kid-gets-loose-and-is-killed-by-familys-pit-bulls-wtf/307990 "2005-06-12T18:57:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2005, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mom-locks-kid-in-basement-kid-gets-loose-and-is-killed-by-familys-pit-bulls-wtf/307990/21 "2005-06-13T00:39:00Z")
I am still quite confused over this whole thing. . . I agree with the majority that the mother was completely negligent in the situation. But I do agree with **Guin** and **WhyNot** in that I quoted a CNN article, but there might be more to the story than we’re seeing. Can any SF Dopers shed any light? On the initial facts, I still lay blame on the mother. And I pray for her son, even though he’s somewhere more comfortable. Tripler :: sighs :: ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2005, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mom-locks-kid-in-basement-kid-gets-loose-and-is-killed-by-familys-pit-bulls-wtf/307990/22 "2005-06-13T00:39:42Z")
Thanks for the correction re. the Presa Canarios, another futile waste product of selective breeding. I should probably apologize to the pit bull owners out there (after all, I wouldn’t want Pit Bull Nation to get angry with me), but I just can’t bring myself to be that magnanimous right now, seeing as how these kinds of incidents keep happening with the dismal regularity of, say, Chinese Water Torture. As for that shit stain of a mother, she should be bound hand and foot, ceremoniously smeared in _jus de Alpo_, and tossed into a pit full of feral, starving dogs. ---
**Author:** ![Antonius\_Block](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/51bf81/32.png) [@Antonius\_Block](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antonius_Block)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2005, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mom-locks-kid-in-basement-kid-gets-loose-and-is-killed-by-familys-pit-bulls-wtf/307990/23 "2005-06-13T00:54:22Z")
> [@Tripler](#): > > I quoted a CNN article, but there might be more to the story than we’re seeing. Can any SF Dopers shed any light? The [link](http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/06/12/MNGJND7G5L1.DTL) that I gave in post #13, to the San Francisco Chronicle’s update on the case earlier today, has a sidebar with further links to all of the articles they’ve had since the boy’s death on June 3rd, as well as reader’s comments. The Chronicle probably has as good a lead on the story as anyone outside of the police investigation itself. I do agree, however, that there’s something fishy about sending the 9-year-old brother out to the corner store to get food for the 12-year-old in the basement. Was he expected to brave the dogs to supply Nicky with food (or was there a basement window?). I expect _something_ unusual will come out about this. ---
**Author:** ![Good\_Egg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/96bed5/32.png) [@Good\_Egg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Good_Egg)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2005, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mom-locks-kid-in-basement-kid-gets-loose-and-is-killed-by-familys-pit-bulls-wtf/307990/24 "2005-06-13T00:58:43Z")
> [@Larry Mudd](#): > > Yup. Every generation has it’s “demon” dog. In the '50s, we had German shepherds. In '70s, dobies. More recently Rottweilers and pit bulls. > > Sure, the dogs are bred for certain qualities – but incidents with them increase because the kind of asshole who wants a dog as a weapon selects for the most notorious ones. If the meme went around that Labs were viscious attack dogs, these cretins would get them and raise them accordingly, and Lab maulings would suddenly be more commonplace. > > It’s funny how responsible people have responsible dogs, innit? Except that no matter how vicious chihuahua’s are bred they couldn’t kill people. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2005, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mom-locks-kid-in-basement-kid-gets-loose-and-is-killed-by-familys-pit-bulls-wtf/307990/25 "2005-06-13T05:07:54Z")
They can annoy you to death. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2005, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mom-locks-kid-in-basement-kid-gets-loose-and-is-killed-by-familys-pit-bulls-wtf/307990/26 "2005-06-13T05:56:34Z")
> [@Larry Mudd](#): > > Sure, the dogs are bred for certain qualities – but incidents with them increase because the kind of asshole who wants a dog as a weapon selects for the most notorious ones. If the meme went around that Labs were viscious attack dogs, these cretins would get them and raise them accordingly, and Lab maulings would suddenly be more commonplace. > > It’s funny how responsible people have responsible dogs, innit? I find the story very strange. I have known a good share of pit bull owners (they were popular where I grew up) and I have \*never \* heard of a pit mauling a family member. Neighbors dogs, neighbors, passers-by, cops? Sure. But never a family member. ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Bruin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Queen\_Bruin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Bruin)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2005, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mom-locks-kid-in-basement-kid-gets-loose-and-is-killed-by-familys-pit-bulls-wtf/307990/27 "2005-06-13T07:30:18Z")
It does [happen.](http://www.dogexpert.com/FatalDogAttacks/Outside%20US/NewZealand04.htm) People need to really look into what breed of dog they are getting before they get one. I know I am going to step on toes with this, but here I go anyway on my views of dog maulings. There’s a subset of people out there (I just call them scumbags - I deal with these sorts on a near-daily basis) that want to get a pit bull because they’re intimidating and it helps bolster their weakass sense of manhood or whatever. Scumbag owner is 1. Unresponsible with the dog - not having it properly contained and socialized and 2. doesn’t take the breeds characteristics into account when buying it; they just want a pitbull because they’re “cool”. The dog is often neglected and left to fend for itself and sometimes mistreated. Watch “Animals Cops” on Animal Planet sometime and see how often this exact scenario comes up. Then add to the blatant misuse of the dog’s purpose the refusal of many owners to alter their animals. It’s fucking sickening. This woman is negligent as fuck - for getting dogs that aren’t well-suited as family dogs, for not altering them, and sure as fuck for putting her son in the basement - in and of itself not bad, but I have to wonder why the dogs had the run of the house and the child was barred into his basement play room with a fucking shovel wedged against the door. She’s guilty of negligence of both her son and the dogs. The answer isn’t to ban the dogs, it’s to ban stupid fucking people from having them in the first place (I know that can never be legislated but I can dream, right?) Sorry can you tell this is one of my hot-button issues? ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Bruin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Queen\_Bruin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Bruin)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2005, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mom-locks-kid-in-basement-kid-gets-loose-and-is-killed-by-familys-pit-bulls-wtf/307990/28 "2005-06-13T07:31:59Z")
:smack: Sorry **spooje** , you said a pit bull, but the article I linked had to do with a mastiff. Nonetheless, I am sure it has happened before across the whole spectrum of breeds. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2005, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mom-locks-kid-in-basement-kid-gets-loose-and-is-killed-by-familys-pit-bulls-wtf/307990/29 "2005-06-13T10:30:17Z")
> [@Padeye](#): > > Someday we’ll have a device that gives the perpetrator the experience that the victim went through. I don’t think the memory of just seeing her son’s torn body will have an impact on her, she needs to feel what he suffered though before she’ll get it. We have that technology now. It’s called…locking the prisoner in a room with an enraged/hungry animal. (Granted, it only allows the subject to go through the experience _once_…) ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2005, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mom-locks-kid-in-basement-kid-gets-loose-and-is-killed-by-familys-pit-bulls-wtf/307990/30 "2005-06-13T12:56:29Z")
Reminds me of a conversation I overheard in the laudromat: Yeah, my pit bull attacked a child in the park. And then some nutjob shot a gun at my prize dog and blinded him. He din’t have to do that. I’m suing the guy for blinding my dog. What is it with dogs and their owners? ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2005, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mom-locks-kid-in-basement-kid-gets-loose-and-is-killed-by-familys-pit-bulls-wtf/307990/31 "2005-06-13T13:46:02Z")
> [@](#): > > Faibish declined to say what triggered such concern that she insisted her son stay in the basement, away from the dogs. > > “I don’t want to go into any of that detail,” she said. “That’s between me and the detectives.” :dubious: Very intriguing. ---
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2005, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mom-locks-kid-in-basement-kid-gets-loose-and-is-killed-by-familys-pit-bulls-wtf/307990/32 "2005-06-13T15:58:32Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Reminds me of a conversation I overheard in the laudromat: Yeah, my pit bull attacked a child in the park. And then some nutjob shot a gun at my prize dog and blinded him. He din’t have to do that. I’m suing the guy for blinding my dog. That’s amazingly nervy. Hey my ill trained animal attacked a small human being . . . but there was no need to actually y’know defend the poor kid. :rolleyes: I hope the laundromat pit bull owner never sees a penny. And then I hope the kid’s parents countersue him for damages. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2005, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mom-locks-kid-in-basement-kid-gets-loose-and-is-killed-by-familys-pit-bulls-wtf/307990/33 "2005-06-13T16:29:30Z")
> [@The Sausage Creature](#): > > Scumbag owner is 1. Unresponsible with the dog - not having it properly contained and socialized And they don’t spay or neuter their dogs. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2005, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mom-locks-kid-in-basement-kid-gets-loose-and-is-killed-by-familys-pit-bulls-wtf/307990/34 "2005-06-13T16:36:42Z")
As **The Sausage Creature** and **Padeye** have pointed out- PitBulls can be gentle loving doggies. However, nowadays, they are purposely sought out as mean guard dogs, and trained to be mean attack animals. You can find crude hand-lettered ads for them just about everywhere in local black communities. (Since a lot of rap videos show rappers with these dogs- strainingand slavering on the end of chokechains and chain leashs- this breed has become common in the poorer black communitys as guard dogs. They are menat to “impress”.) It’s not the breed- it’s the people who buy the breed for this purpose- to be mean attack dog, and train them so. What I think is that the sale of Pitbulls and PitBull-like breeds should be legislated as only through a registered Breeder. There are too many “back yard tuff dog” breeders for PitBulls, and they’re the one causing the problems. ---
**Author:** ![GaWd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f08c70/32.png) [@GaWd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaWd)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2005, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mom-locks-kid-in-basement-kid-gets-loose-and-is-killed-by-familys-pit-bulls-wtf/307990/35 "2005-06-13T17:03:35Z")
Makes me glad my taste in dogs-though I’m always sure to create a warm and loving environment for them-run in the Labrador Retreiver breeds… ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2005, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mom-locks-kid-in-basement-kid-gets-loose-and-is-killed-by-familys-pit-bulls-wtf/307990/36 "2005-06-13T17:28:23Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > As **The Sausage Creature** and **Padeye** have pointed out- PitBulls can be gentle loving doggies. However, nowadays, they are purposely sought out as mean guard dogs, and trained to be mean attack animals. You can find crude hand-lettered ads for them just about everywhere in local black communities. (Since a lot of rap videos show rappers with these dogs- strainingand slavering on the end of chokechains and chain leashs- this breed has become common in the poorer black communitys as guard dogs. They are menat to “impress”.) > > It’s not the breed- it’s the people who buy the breed for this purpose- to be mean attack dog, and train them so. > > What I think is that the sale of Pitbulls and PitBull-like breeds should be legislated as only through a registered Breeder. There are too many “back yard tuff dog” breeders for PitBulls, and they’re the one causing the problems. I wonder if there’s a way to regulate ownership of Pitbulls and other like breeds-not to ban anyone from owning one outright, but maybe you have to have a special license to do so. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2005, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mom-locks-kid-in-basement-kid-gets-loose-and-is-killed-by-familys-pit-bulls-wtf/307990/37 "2005-06-13T17:28:47Z")
There’s some [video](http://www.kron4.com/Global/story.asp?S=3433826&nav=5D7lag4G) of Faibish from a television news segment. Mostly, she’s just showing pictures of her son. She says “I just want people to know that he was a real human being.” I wonder why she thinks she’s in a position to remind anyone of that, after locking him in the goddamn basement. Her only comment on the mauling itself is “I don’t want people to make this a dog thing. It was an accident. It was something that happened, and I think God has a plan for everybody and it was time for Nicky to go. I have a lot of guilt, but I have to realize that, you know, he was destined to go at this time.” “God did it!” Great defense, lady. It was Divine Providence that he was born to a negligent mother. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2005, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mom-locks-kid-in-basement-kid-gets-loose-and-is-killed-by-familys-pit-bulls-wtf/307990/38 "2005-06-13T18:22:53Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > I wonder if there’s a way to regulate ownership of Pitbulls and other like breeds-not to ban anyone from owning one outright, but maybe you have to have a special license to do so. Hmm, that might work along with “can be bought only from certified breeders”. Good idea. ---
**Author:** ![Marlitharn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/779978/32.png) [@Marlitharn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marlitharn)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2005, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mom-locks-kid-in-basement-kid-gets-loose-and-is-killed-by-familys-pit-bulls-wtf/307990/39 "2005-06-13T18:37:04Z")
Reason # 1,483 why I fucking hate people. We had a case locally a year or two back where some waste of fucking oxygen locked her 3 year old son inside her Rottweiler’s dog pen while she went back inside to sit on her ass and watch Springer or Oprah or whatever shitwitted show the local trailer trash watch while they’re sitting around waiting for the welfare check to show up. That baby was in pieces when she finally came back outside. Forget licensing people to own certain types of dogs; I’m beginning to think we should license people to have kids. As a sidenote, ever notice how the kind of people who like to have big tuff guard dogs chained up outside don’t look like they’d have a damn thing worth stealing? ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Stilettos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/fbc32d/32.png) [@Red\_Stilettos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Stilettos)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2005, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mom-locks-kid-in-basement-kid-gets-loose-and-is-killed-by-familys-pit-bulls-wtf/307990/40 "2005-06-13T18:43:09Z")
> [@Antonius Block](#): > > The mother is, not surprisingly, rather distraught and her statements are wildly inconsistent. She alternates between saying: and:Whatever her level of culpability in this matter, there is no doubt that she is suffering right now. I’ve always been led to understand that losing a child is worse than **anything** else. Whether it’s worse than what happened to the son is beyond my ability to judge. I think we need to keep this in mind before we jump all over some of the mother’s statements. For instance, the statement about it “being his time to go” strikes me as trying to come to grips with his death, not a dismissal of his life. Also, the “typical Nicky” response sounds like she misses her mischeivious child. I wouldn’t take that to mean that she was actually thinking ‘he’ll escape, as usual’ when she locked him in. (She obviously wasn’t thinking at all…) The sound bites that we’re getting are from a very distraught woman and they are filtered through the media. I wouldn’t string her up based on any of those comments. However, I do think the story sounds a bit fishy. If she’s so worried about the dog, even for a day, she should get the dog out of the house, not lock up her 12-year old. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mom-locks-kid-in-basement-kid-gets-loose-and-is-killed-by-familys-pit-bulls-wtf/307990.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mom-locks-kid-in-basement-kid-gets-loose-and-is-killed-by-familys-pit-bulls-wtf/307990.md?page=3)