HICKSVILLE, N.Y. (PIX11) -- An 11-year-old girl was so badly injured from a pit bull attack that she had to be airlifted, and two adults who were with her also suffered injuries.
It was a scene that left a neighborhood stunned by the severity of the girl's wounds.
"To hear the shrieking I heard," said Deborah Wintersaler, who lives next door to the house on Lantern Road, "and just to see that poor girl stumbling down the driveway with half her face missing, it's something I will never forget."
Police received a 911 call at 12:20 p.m. Officers and witnesses say two dogs were involved, and that two adult victims -- the girl's mother, 37, and the mother's landlord, who lives below the girl's family -- were also injured.
The mauling was severe, according to eyewitnesses.
"I will have nightmares about it for a long time, I'm quite sure," said Wintersaler.
Nassau County Police Emergency Service Unit officers were called in to assist Animal Control to get the dogs under control. Around 3:40 on Tuesday afternoon, the specially trained cops led one dog out on a leash, and brought out the other one in a cage, sedated.
The girl had apparently been at the door to her apartment, which is in the back of the two-family home when she was attacked. The dogs are kept in the backyard, according to neighbors.
They called 911, and the sixth-grade girl was soon taken by ambulance to a Medevac helicopter waiting in an athletic field a block away. She was flown to Cohen Children's Medical Center.
She, and the adult victims, are expected to survive. The girl's recovery may take a long time, based on her extensive injuries, eyewitnesses said.
The events leading up to the dog attack remain unclear. Nassau County authorities said that an investigation is ongoing.
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