Aldine ISD students recall terrifying moments when dog attacked several people on school bus
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Students on an Aldine ISD school bus Wednesday morning described a chaotic scene after an unleashed dog made its way on board and attacked multiple people.
The district said the dog bit two students and a school bus driver, who were taken to the hospital for their injuries.
This happened around 8 a.m. at a school bus stop near the intersection of Breckenridge Drive and Bethnal Green Drive in Northwest Harris County.
Dream Jackson, a 6th grader at Plummer Middle School, was one of the witnesses on the bus. She shared a cell phone video she recorded with ABC13 that shows a student, whose family later identified as Braylon Lawson, being bit by the American Bully at the bus stop and wrestling it to the ground.
Jackson said when the dog made its way on the bus, the students on board panicked and began jumping off through the emergency exit.
"The dog was jumping on seats. Everybody was screaming. I was so scared because it happened so fast. It traumatized all of us, and now, none of us wants to sit at the front of the bus anymore," Jackson said.
SkyEye flew over the intersection of Breckenridge and Mortimer, where medics, Aldine ISD police officers, and Harris County Public Health were seen responding.
"Upon seeing the dog biting students at a bus stop, the bus driver honked to scare away the dog and tried to allow students on the bus to get them to safety. During this time, the dog was able to get onto the bus for a short period of time," the district's statement said.
Lawson's family members said he's now home from the hospital after receiving 14 stitches throughout his body.
"He was bit on his fingers, arms, legs. He's in a lot of pain. He was definitely scared. He thought his life was over. I was talking to him when he was in hospital. I literally had to control my tears because I'm not gonna break down in front of him," Shakeena Davis, Lawson's aunt, said.
Vanessa Degollado identified her son, Eleazar, as the second student who was attacked. She said he was sitting in the front of the bus and ended up getting stitches on five different parts of his body.
"Mentally, my son is scared right now. He was very shocked when I saw him. He was pale. He was cold to the touch. He's telling me, 'Mom, I'm scared to wait for the bus,'" Degollado said.
The dog's owner declined an on-camera interview but told ABC13 that Lawson previously dogsat her American Bully. She claimed her dog, Kingston, is not aggressive and was locked up in a kennel in her garage but somehow got loose. Her surveillance video showed Kingston jumping on and walking with Lawson and several other students toward the bus stop.
During the ordeal, a neighbor living nearby said her husband tried intervening by scaring the dog off and firing his gun. Kingston's owner said one of the bullets struck the dog, currently receiving treatment at the veterinarian's office.
Aldine ISD said no charges are being pressed against the dog owner at this time.
According to Harris County's Veterinary Public Health (VPH) Division, pets are considered personal property under Texas State Law. It added a citation could not be issued because when officers arrived, the owner had already confined the dog in question at her home.
VPH said it issued a mandatory 10-day quarantine order for the dog to be monitored for rabies at a facility, such as a veterinary clinic. The owner also had the option to turn the dog over to VPH for rabies testing.
If the owner does not comply within 24 hours, a citation will be issued. Their records show the dog has no reported history of previous bite cases.
The students' family members said they want charges filed and the dog removed from the neighborhood.
"The owner needs to take responsibility for these medical bills. This dog shouldn't have been out there by itself," Degollado said.
"We have dogs, and when one of my dogs died, I cried. So, I don't think this dog should be put down. But I don't feel like he needs to be out. I feel like he needs to have better caretakers who can teach him not to be vicious," Davis said.
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