ELIZABETH, NJ – A 3-year-old boy is dead after falling from his window and into his backyard where he was mauled to death by his family’s dogs.
Authorities are investigating the circumstances behind an incident in which a young child fell from a rear window of his home and was attacked by dogs in the backyard, resulting in his death, acting Union County Prosecutor Lyndsay V. Ruotolo and Elizabeth Police Chief Giacomo Sacca and Police Director Earl Graves jointly announced Thursday. Â
Members of the Elizabeth Police Department responded to a home on the 400 block of South 5th Street shortly after 5:25 p.m. Wednesday and found the 3-year-old victim, who had sustained serious injuries. The child was immediately transported to Trinitas Regional Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead shortly after 6:30 p.m.
An investigation led by members of the Union County Homicide Task Force, the Prosecutor’s Office’s Special Victims Unit and Special Prosecutions Unit, and the Union County Sheriff’s Office’s Crime Scene Unit, and assisted by members of the Elizabeth Police Department, revealed that the dogs, which belonged to the victim’s family, were in the fenced yard at the time of the incident. Representatives of a local animal control organization responded to the scene and secured the dogs, which were transported to another location.
The city wants to euthanize the dogs and they are currently being held in quarantine.
No criminal charges associated with this incident have been filed at this time. Anyone with any information about this matter is being urged to contact Prosecutor’s Office Detective Richard Acosta at 908-347-0404 or Detective Michael Tambini at 908-472-4301.