(Michigan City, IN) - A Michigan City dog owner is facing criminal charges for injuries inflicted onto a man and woman along with their four-year-old son by his pet. 

 

Deandre Burnett has been charged with three misdemeanor counts of Dog Bite Liability, the most serious count being a Class A misdemeanor which could bring an up to one-year jail sentence.

 

According to police, it was late February when a man and his four-year-old son were walking to the family car parked in the driveway of their home in the 600 block of South Ashland Avenue, only to come across a pack of dogs fighting in the middle of the street.

 

One of the dogs then began attacking the boy.

 

In response, authorities explain, the man struggled to remove the dog’s mouth from his son’s face before his wife came out and tried to drive away the animal.

 

The husband and wife were treated and then released from a hospital for injuries suffered during the attack. However, the boy remained in the care of a doctor for injuries to his face, head, arms, and body amid concerns that the boy’s injuries were extensive enough to possibly result in permanent scarring.

 

Police noted that the dog, considered by a veterinarian to be a significant risk to public safety, was euthanized.

 

According to court documents, four dogs belonging to Burnett were let outside his home during the night and somehow made their way through a gate of the fenced-in yard.