GEORGIA – An 11-year-old boy is missing 70% of his scalp after three pit bulls knocked him off his bike and attacked him while he was strolling through his Georgia neighborhood, his family said.
The attack near Grovetown on Friday sent Justin Gilstrap to the hospital, with a torn scalp and severe bite marks on both legs, Columbia County deputies told WRDW.
Justin nearly lost an ear and sustained a leg injury so bad it couldn’t be closed, according to a GoFundMe set up by his mom.
Justin’s cousin, 11-year-old Mason Aguilar, made the 911 call Friday when the three dogs launched their vicious attack, eventually dragging the boy into a ditch on the side of the road.
Burt Baker III, the dogs’ owner, told police his dogs like to chase people on bicycles. Baker was arrested shortly thereafter and charged with reckless conduct.
“There is not an inch of his body that does not have a cut or a bruise,” Justin’s mother, Ericka Gilstrap, told the aforementioned medium. “His life will never be the same again.”
“I don’t want another mom to have to sit next to her baby like I’m doing now,” Ericka added.
Mason, Justin’s cousin, recalled how he yelled for help, noting that his cousin “can take on three pit bulls. He is tough as nails”.
Mason’s mother, Kellie Aguilar, told the outlet that this isn’t the first time the family has filed a complaint about Baker’s dogs.
“No one has ever done anything,” Ericka added. “They’re just loose. They are not behind the fence. They are not tied. They are on the loose 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.”
Justin is at the Children’s Hospital of Georgia.
