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Mother and toddler son seriously injured in dog attack in La Mesa

Two dogs attacked a woman and her toddler son on an East County roadside Thursday, leaving them seriously injured, authorities said.

LA MESA (NEWS 8) — Two dogs attacked a woman and her toddler son on an East County roadside Thursday, leaving them seriously injured, authorities said.

The 29-year-old mother was pushing her 2-year-old son in a stroller in the 6900 block of Waite Drive in La Mesa with her 8-year-old daughter walking alongside them when the pair of Rottweilers escaped from their nearby backyard kennel about 8:15 a.m., according to police.

The mother and toddler were still at Rady Children's hospital Thursday night after being brutally attacked. Their blood stains were still left on the sidewalk.

Multiple Good Samaritans rushed into help Thursday morning when the attack occurred.

"I was in my boxers and my briefs and I just heard and ran downstairs, and I just started punching the dogs," said La Mesa resident Jamir Grigsby. "I started grabbing them by their necks and just started hurrying up and going across the street."

Outside in front his apartment Jamir saw the two large Rottweilers viciously attacking the toddler boy in a stroller and his mother.

"The boy - his ear was badly messed up, [on] his head he had a big scratch," said Grigsby. "Both of his ears were like ripped."

The dogs who went after the family are soon-to-be two-year-old Stella and Cookie.

"The dogs were just yanking him, biting him everywhere, one had one of his arms biting his fingers," said Grigsby. "Another one was on his leg and then one would go to mom."

There are blood stains left on the sidewalk across the street from the large home the dogs escaped from.

"This time around they bit a hole through it but then there’s another barrier," said the dogs' owner Nathan Le.

Le said he is in shock the dogs got loose by biting through a chain link fence and opening a back gate.

"I feel awful this is happening, and not only that, now we’re going to have to put them down and they're our family dogs," Le said. "We raised them since they were little."

Le says his pups have never bitten anyone and are around his three small children. He said this behavior was out of nowhere.

"I called the breeder I bought them from and she’s like 'In 40 years of raising these dogs I’ve never had an incident where they’ve bitten anybody,'" said Le. "I want to reach the victims. I want to talk to them and apologize to them, but I was told not to talk to them."

The dogs were seized and taken to El Cajon Animal Shelter as La Mesa Police investigate.

They've been declared dangerous and vicious and have been quarantined.

"It’ll be up to the officers doing the investigation to determine what happened and then the dog owners have an appeal process," said La Mesa Police Lt. Brian Stoney.

“If I could wish one thing to undo in my entire life, I wish I could undo that," said Le.

The mother suffered several bite wounds on her arm while her son was badly bitten on his scalp and face; and will need surgery on his arm. The 8-year-old was unharmed.

The only complaints against the dogs in the past were for loud barking and a neighbor reported them being in their kennel for too long.

A GoFundMe has been set up for the victims of the attack.

Heather Hope spoke to Nathan Le whose two large Rottweilers chewed through a chain link fence and pulled down a gate lever before attacking the 2-year-old boy and his mother. The dogs were impounded and Nathan wants to apologize to the family.

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