A Texas couple is facing felony charges following a tragic incident where their pit bull fatally attacked a toddler they were supposed to be babysitting. Deidre Wheeler and Lacharles Ramsey, both from Wichita Falls, North Texas, are being charged with child endangerment and injury to a child.
The incident occurred on December 29, when local police received a distress call around 5 p.m. about a pit bull attacking a child. Upon arrival, they found the 2-year-old girl in a critical condition, bleeding profusely and unresponsive. Despite immediate medical attention and being rushed to the hospital, the child was pronounced dead upon arrival.
The investigation into the incident revealed a series of unfortunate events. Wheeler, a mother of six, had agreed to babysit two additional children, aged 2 years and 8 months, along with her husband, Ramsey. On the day of the incident, Wheeler left the two children she was babysitting at her home, where her two eldest children, aged 19 and 16, took over the babysitting duties until 4 p.m.
Upon Wheeler’s return, she took her two eldest children to an event, leaving an 11-year-old in charge of the younger children. During the 45 minutes Wheeler and Ramsey were away, the pit bull managed to escape from its kennel and attacked the 8-month-old child. The other children present were able to rescue the infant, but the dog then turned its attention to the 2-year-old.
Wheeler and Ramsey arrived home during the attack, but the toddler was already gravely injured. They immediately rushed the child to the hospital, meeting emergency responders en route.
The 11-year-old child, who was left in charge, later told investigators that she had called her mother to return home as the children were becoming unruly. It was during this chaos that the dog managed to escape.
Further investigation revealed that this was not the first time the pit bull had shown aggressive behavior. The dog had previously escaped and bitten one of the children about a year ago. Despite this, Wheeler and Ramsey left the children unsupervised with the dog in the house.
Wheeler is currently being held in the Wichita County jail on a $450,000 bond, while Ramsey’s bond is set at $300,000. The pit bull has since been euthanized. The identity of the victim has not been released by the authorities.