Mother Awarded $856,000 for Son's Dog Bite

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Oct 19th, 2007

Mother Awarded $856,000 for Son's Dog Bite

A jury in Hawaii recently awarded a mother $856,000 for the dog attack that her two and a half year old son endured.

The boy was attacked and bitten by a Rottweiler while on the beach with his mother on Mother’s Day.

Owner Fails to Leash Aggressive Dog

The Hawaii Circuit Court jury agreed last week that Mariko Bereday was negligent for failing to leash her dog at Kahala Beach.

Keeton Mangusos, who only weighed 24 pounds at the time of the attack, was bitten three times.

He reportedly received stitches on his hip, back and arms for the bites.

According to reports, the dog wouldn’t get off the small boy until a former University of Hawaii football player came to the rescue and punched the dog in the head.

Mother Files Suit

The boy’s mother, Veronica Tomooka, filed the suit against Bereday immediately after the attack.

“It was strictly to have her see what we went through and have a jury judge her,” Tomooka said of her reason behind the suit.

Bereday denied that her dog bit the boy and told the jury that his injuries were fake, admitting no wrongdoing for not leashing the dog.

Five days after the settlement was reached, Bereday was back on the beach with the dog when it attacked a four-year-old girl.

Bereday was sentenced to five days in jail and fined.

(Source: AZ Central)

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