Cops: Boy, 3, mauled by pit bull in Brentwood

A 3-year-old boy's face was mauled by a pit bull outside the Brentwood home of his baby-sitter Tuesday, authorities said.

The child's parents were with him later at Good Samaritan Hospital Medical Center in West Islip, where he was being treated, Suffolk police said.

He was at his baby-sitter's house on Wilson Street yesterday morning when, police said, a pit bull in the yard attacked. The boy, who was not identified by police, was "seriously injured with a bite to the face," police said.

Islip Town spokeswoman Inez Birbiglia said two town animal-control officers and two code-enforcement officers responded. The dog was taken to the Islip Animal Shelter, where it was euthanized.

The Suffolk County Board of Health will test the dog's remains for rabies Wednesday, Birbiglia said, adding that the owner willingly surrendered the dog.

The baby-sitter, who has not been identified, was the owner of the dog.

A man at the baby-sitter's home Tuesday evening said the girl who had been baby-sitting and her mother were at church.

The man, who identified himself as Carlos, said the dog was a 4-year-old blue pit bull named Chico. He said they got the dog from Florida as a puppy, and that he was never aggressive and had never bitten anyone before.

"It's sad for the kid," he said. "You never want anything bad to happen to a kid."

Neighbor Sabrina Silva, 43, said she was shocked when she heard the pretty gray dog from across the street had mauled a child.

"I see him all the time," she said. "I never knew him to be aggressive."

She described Chico as a big dog, a fixture on the front steps of her neighbor's house, where he calmly sat and waited for his owner to come outside.

"I was actually shocked because the dog has never exhibited that sort of behavior before," she said.