Sumter, SC (WLTX) - A five-year-old girl is recovering after a pitbull attack. It happened Saturday while the girl was visiting a relative.
Five-year-old Cheyenne Morgan is back at home in her parent's care. She was rushed to the hospital and received 170 stitches to her face after deputies say a pitbull bit her. The family says it's an accident they feel could have been prevented.
"I was very upset, like everybody else at first, I felt the anger," her father Patrick Morgan says Cheyenne was in route to her grandmother's house with her aunt when they made a stop at a relative's house.
"A sixteen year old boy in the home asked her if she wanted to see the new puppies," said Morgan.
"Bell",a six year old blue pitbull, and her ten newborn puppies, were locked in a back room.
"The mother dog reached up one time, sniffed her," said the girls father. "Then with no provoking, bit her."
Cheyenne needed a total of 170 stitches to repair her face. Plastic surgery may be necessary to go forward.
Now smiling and sitting between her two parents, Cheyenne recalls what happened. "She sniffed me. She just bite me. And, that's all."
Senior Corporal Latisha Billie says nineteen charges have been filed against the owner of the dog for not having vaccinations for some seventeen dogs at the residence.
"This is something that is going to stick with that child basically for the remainder of her life," said Billie.
The Sumter Sheriff's Department deputies say the mother and puppies will remain quarantined at the owner's home.
"We felt like it was in the best interest of the puppies to remain with the mother so she could provide whatever she needed for her offspring," said Billie.
William Marsh owns the dog and the puppies. He says he and his girlfriend were watching a movie and didn't know Cheyenne had entered the room with the dogs.
"I'm sorry it happened but there was nothing I can do to prevent it," said Marsh. "I'm not going to get rid of my dogs, I mean, I'm sorry the baby got bit. But this is the first time it has happened and it won't happen again."
Cheyenne is back by her parents side recovering at home. She will miss the next week of school as she needs three series of rabies shots. This is an ending her mother Kim says she is thankful.
"There's a possibility of what if. What if it would have been worse?" said Morgan
According to the Sumter Sheriff's Department officials, the owner of the dog is looking at around a $10,000 fine for the 19 charges. The Sheriff's Department says they are sending a deputy out daily to check on the quarantine status of the dogs.