NYC dad whose tot was fatally mauled by family dog ‘knew it was dangerous’
A Brooklyn dad who left his young kids home alone with the family Rottweiler — only to have the beast fatally maul his 19-month-old son — admitted to cops he knew the dog was “dangerous,” court papers show.
Vernon Foster was charged with criminally negligent homicide, manslaughter and acting in a manner injurious to a child after the attack Tuesday that killed his son Ryan.
The dad was held on $50,000 bail at his arraignment in Brooklyn Criminal Court on Thursday night.
The tragedy unfolded around 10:45 p.m. Tuesday, after Foster left sons Jayden, 11, Tale’, 9, and Ryan home alone with the dog, named Buster, while the dad went to his job at Home Depot, cops said at the time.
Buster viciously attacked Ryan, prompting the toddler’s siblings to run out onto the sidewalk in front of their apartment on East 17th Street in Flatbush and desperately plead with passers-by for help, according to cops and video.
The brothers eventually flagged down a good Samaritan who went into the home and found Buster standing over the child, court papers say. Ryan had “multiple puncture wounds to the neck, face, and body,” according to the criminal complaint.
The father, who is separated from the kids’ mother, was charged in his son’s death the next day.
The dog was described by the mother as an aggressive “guard dog,” which bit her other child, Jayden, two years ago in an attack that left scars still visible to this day.