FISHERS, Ind. – A family says a gap in city ordinance focusing on dog attacks could put your child in danger.
On Aug. 12, 8-year-old Kaiden Sullivan was walking through his neighborhood near 126th Street and Southeastern Avenue.
He was passing through someone else’s yard when he was attacked by possibly two dogs.
“It was horrible,” Kaiden’s dad, Rusty, said. “He had blood all over him. My first reaction was that he had been hit by a car.”
Three weeks later, what is more difficult for the family to deal with is the dog or dogs behind the injuries still live in the neighborhood. They haven’t been put down or removed from their home.
“This animal at this point has not done anything that would give us the authority to take the animal and impound the animal,” Fishers Police Captain Gerry Hepp said.
Officers say their hands are tied by Fishers city ordinance, which doesn’t allow them to take the dog or dogs away: The dog or dogs had no prior violence issues, and this happened on the property of the dog’s owner.
But Rusty Sullivan isn’t giving up.
“This is a neighborhood full of children,” he said. “There's probably 150 houses and 250 kids in this neighborhood. Those dogs could very easily do that again."
Sullivan is working to meet with Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness to change city ordinance so dogs who attack don’t remain a threat.
“I couldn't consciously sit in my house and in 2 years, have someone knock on my door and tell me those dogs or that dog attacked or did something,” Sullivan said. “There needs to be something spelled out that allows the authorities to do what needs to be done, and at this time we've been told there is nothing they can do.”
