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B.C. boy needed 100 stitches after pit bull attack

An 11-year-old boy from Surrey was rescued from a pit bull attack on Sunday by a neighbour who used a baseball bat to fend off two loose dogs.

Bat-wielding Good Samaritan managed to scare dogs away

CBC News ·
Sean Bajwa was playing basketball with friends at a school playground when he was attacked by a pit bull around 4:30 p.m. Sunday. ((CBC))

A Surrey, B.C., boy who was badly bitten by a pit bull on Sunday afternoon is still recovering in hospital from puncture wounds to his face, arms and legs, the 11-year-old's father said Monday.

Sean Bajwa was playing basketball with friends in the playground at Cedar Hills Elementary School when the vicious attack occurred around 4:30 p.m., Surrey RCMP said.

"The dog started chasing him and Sean was walking backwards," said Noris Virdi, one of the other basketball players. He said the dogs were loose on the playground and appeared to be unattended.

"Sean fell on the ground. The dog started licking Sean. After Sean started screaming, the dogs were biting him."

Wielding a baseball bat, Jordan Slezak ran across a street in his bare feet, hopped a fence and used the bat to hit a vicious dog to stop it from attacking a young boy. ((CBC))

Jordan Slezak and his mother, who live across the street from the school, were drawn outside when they heard yelling coming from the playground.

 

"The pit bull had the boy by his face when we came out here," the 20-year-old said Monday.

"My mum yelled at me to go grab the phone and call 911. By the time I got to the phone, she just told me to grab a baseball bat and go out there."

 

With a bat in his hand, Slezak rushed over to help the boy.

"I jumped the fence [barefoot], ran to the dog and gave him a nice golf swing to the head. The dog backed off right away and ran to the other side of the playground.

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"Yes dogs bite. But the Pit Bull has jaws like a shark, and they do massive damage if they bite!"

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"The second dog was just circling and I chased them … and kept them in the corner until police came," Slezak said.

Manjit Bajwa, the father of the boy who was mauled, wants the owner of the pit bulls punished for allowing the dogs to run loose in a playground. ((CBC))

Sean was taken to Surrey Memorial Hospital where doctors took three hours and 100 stitches to close all his wounds, police said. He remained in hospital Monday night.

Manjit Bajwa said his son is having nightmares about the attack.

"He's in the shock, still … he starts to cry and starts to shiver."

Bajwa said the owner of the pit bulls should be punished for allowing the dogs to be loose.

Surrey RCMP Sgt. Roger Morrow said police officers had to use a pole to catch one of the dogs.

Both dogs are being held at the SPCA. Officials are still investigating to determine whether both dogs were involved in the attack.

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