Mother of 2-year-old killed by dog: 'I'm doing OK' - Chicago Tribune

The mother of the 2-year-old girl who was mauled to death by a dog over the weekend said she is "doing OK" this morning and is making plans to give needy children the Christmas toys she had planned to give to her daughter.

"I'm doing OK," said Jah'niyah White's mother Kashairah Gardner, 20, who was reached this morning by telephone at her mother's suburban home.

"I'm hanging in there," Gardner said.

Gardner said she was busy today arranging to give needy children the Christmas toys she purchased for Jah'niyah. "I'm trying to get everything together," Gardner said of those preparations.

Meanwhile authorities are continuing their investigation into the death of Jah'niyah, who was attacked Saturday afternoon while at her grandfather's home in the 300 block of East 91st Street in the South Chicago neighborhood. Chicago Police Department News Affairs Officer Jose Estrada said this morning the department's investigation into the girl's death is continuing and no arrests or charges have been filed.

Jah'niyah, of the 1700 block of East 67th Street, was pronounced dead at 3:40 p.m. Saturday at Jackson Park Hospital, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office.

An autopsy Sunday determined that she died from multiple injuries she sustained in a dog attack and said a contributing factor was neglect. Her death was ruled a homicide, officials said.

The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services is investigating the girl's grandfather for allegations of abuse pertaining to the child's death, according to DCFS spokeswoman Karen Hawkins. The agency has not had prior contact with the family.

Chicago Police detectives were called to the 91st Street address about 2:45 p.m. Saturday to assist Chicago Fire Department personnel there, said News Affairs Officer Daniel O'Brien.

According to a police report, the 50-year-old man who called police led officers to the bathroom of his third floor apartment, where Jah'niyah was lying on the floor on her back with a white towel around her neck. The man, whose relationship to the child was not given in the police report, told officers she was bouncing on a bed when she fell off and struck her head on the corner of a dresser, the report stated.

Officers saw the child's chest rising and falling, and felt a pulse. Paramedics began rushing her to University of Chicago Comer Children's Hospital but while on the way there, she "went into defibleration (sp)" and paramedics had to go to the nearest hospital, Jackson Park Hospital, the report said.

A doctor told police that Jah'niyah had several lacerations and puncture wounds to the back of her head and her neck, and her left ear lobe was missing, the report said.

Police contacted the city's Department of Animal Care and Control, who took custody of two dogs, one named "Brownie" and another named "General Chico,"’ according to the report.

rsobol@tribune.com | Twitter: @RosemarySobol1


www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-child-killed-by-dog-south-chicago-20131209,0,894271.story
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