WESTMINSTER : Mauling Prompts Dog Laws Session

Prompted by a Feb. 2 mauling that sent a 6-year-old boy to the hospital, the City Council tonight will discuss possible changes in city laws that deal with vicious dogs.

Jeffrey Kerley was playing with a friend near his home in the 7700 block of 19th Street when he was attacked by a pair of 100-pound Rottweilers and bitten on his legs, arms, stomach, back and buttocks. The boy received 75 stitches.

The dogs were returned to their owner last week following a two-week quarantine. They are now secured behind a chain-link fence with a sign that warns of vicious dogs on the premises, Capt. Steven Martinez said .

Current city laws state that the city cannot take a dog from its owner or have it destroyed unless the dog has bitten a person on two separate occasions. Neither of the dogs involved in the mauling had been implicated in any previous attacks.

Two weeks ago, Jeffrey’s father, Noble Kerley, along with a group of neighbors, asked the council to consider strengthening current city laws pertaining to vicious dogs.

Options the council will be discussing include: a law requiring a dog owner to obtain $100,000 in liability insurance, requirements on restraint of dogs and on destruction of a dog after it is declared vicious.