A Brooklyn father was arrested on Wednesday, Aug. 11, after his 19-month-old son was mauled to death at their home by the family's pet dog.
Vernon Foster, 30, from Flatbush, Brooklyn, was taken into custody and charged with manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide at the 70th precinct on Wednesday.
Foster Left the Child Unattended to go to Work
The tragic incident took place at around 10:45 p.m. on Tuesday inside Foster's apartment when he left the 19-month-old boy named Ryan alone with his two brothers Jayden, 11, and Tale', 9, according to Chief Michael Kemper.
Foster is divorced from his wife Susan Hyre, with whom he shares the three children. "We believe he left them unattended to go to work," Kemper said.
While he was in the care of his older siblings, Ryan, was attacked by the family's rottweiler, named Buster, who bit the toddler on his neck and should, causing him to start "bleeding heavily." CCTV footage obtained by the New York Post shows the moment Jayden and Tale' run out of the apartment building and frantically seeking help from passersby.
Buster 'Had a History of Aggression,' Had Previously Attacked Jayden
Ryan was rushed to a nearby hospital, where he was later pronounced dead. According to ABC New York, the canine had a "history of aggression" and had previously attacked Jayden in 2019. The dog has since been taken away by Animal Care and Control.
According to the child's mother, Buster was a "guard dog" that belonged to Vernon's parents and recalled him biting Jayden from two years ago. "It looks like someone took a knife and carved marks into my son's leg," she said. "The marks are still there from two years ago.
Hyre said that their other two sons have been traumatized by the attack. "They basically cried themselves to sleep," she said. "Tale' shares a room with Ryan and Jayden has his own room. Tale' doesn't want to sleep in the room where Ryan slept. He is literally asleep in the same bed with his brother. They don't want to leave each other."
"I don't know how to process this," Hyre said of her late son. "How do you process losing a child? You can't." In June, a New Jersey family lost their three-year-old son after he fell out of a window at his home and was viciously attacked by the family's two pet pitbulls, as previously reported.
