Mom, her boyfriend and uncle handcuffed 6-year-old boy and allowed pit bull dog to maul him

Tuesday, August 27, 2024 - A mother, her boyfriend, and an uncle are all facing child endangerment charges after handcuffing a six-year-old who was then mauled by a pit bulldog.

The incident happened Saturday, August 17, at a home in Northeast Ohio, USA, where deputies received a call about the boy after he had been bitten by the pit bull.

In court, Angelina Williams, the boy's mother, argued that she did not know it was illegal to handcuff a child after she and the other defendants allegedly did so to punish the boy after he failed to clean up after the dog.

The little boy was bitten on the neck, and ear, and flown to a hospital, but is expected to recover, his grandmother said.

Robert Michalski Jr., the boy's uncle, was identified as the owner of the dog and the owner of the residence where the attack took place.

Williams's boyfriend, Taylor Desiree Marvin Brown, was also present for a family visit.

'The dog is not even my dog. The cuffs are not even my cuffs,' Williams argued in court in Ashland County on Wednesday, last week, insisting that she did not know it was illegal to handcuff a child.

'I didn't even know the cuffs were illegal or anything was wrong with it.

'My uncle told me it was OK.'

Ashland County Prosecutor Chris Tunnell, recounting the incident, said;

'This defendant and the co-defendants handcuffed him, both hands and then applied a second set of cuffs to his feet,' Tunnell told the judge during the trio's initial hearing.

'They were in the process of using a rope to try and tie him to a chair when he came off the chair and then, while on the ground, was attacked by a pit bull.'

He revealed how Williams and two other co-defendants handcuffed the child at the home that Saturday weekend simply because he did not clean up after the dog.

Williams maintained she did not know she did anything wrong.

'I never meant any harm,' she said. 'I really didn't.'

The prosecutor added how Williams's daughter was also present, but was not involved in the attack.

The boy's grandmother, asking not to be named, told WSAZ-3 on Monday how her grandson is expected to recover, despite the horrifying nature of the incident.

'I come in, and I look at my grandson who is sitting on the floor and - not to cuss - I'm like, "Why the f**k does he have handcuffs on?" she said, recalling how she told the three defendants, 'Get them off of him, now.'

She also described how she jumped in to help him, showing the bite marks left on her hands in the process. Still, compared to her grandson, she said she 'got lucky'.

'It was just a reaction when the dog did it. I automatically just reached down. I saw where the dog was going like it went in slow motion,' she said.

The boy's grandmother on Monday said that she's just grateful he is recovering, more than a week after his ordeal.

'He's a sweetheart. He really is,' she said, as the pit bull was taken into custody to be housed as a vicious dog.

Following the attack, the boy's mom, her boyfriend, and the owner of the dog were all arrested but Michalski and the dog left before police arrived.

Police added that the child had been restrained with two sets of handcuffs, on both his hands and feet, when the dog attacked.