INDIANAPOLIS — A pit bull attack on a 10-year-old girl earlier this month led to charges against her grandmother, who decided not to get medical treatment for the child.
Shannon Plankenhorn, 58, was charged with neglect. She was released from the Marion County Jail on bond late Thursday night.
The girl and her little sister were playing outside the family’s home on Indianapolis’ east side when the family dog, named Fang, bit her numerous times on the legs and buttocks.
In a jailhouse interview Thursday night, Plankenhorn admitted that she might have broken the law, but said that as a nurse for 30 years, she felt qualified to treat the girl, 6News’ Rick Hightower reported.
“I brought her in the house and put her in a tub with Epsom salt,” Plankenhorn said. “It’s healing, soothing, cleans out wounds.”
Plankenhorn said Fang didn’t have a history of biting people.
“They’re labeling him as this vicious animal,” she said. “The dog had never bitten anybody before.”
Asked why she didn’t take the girl for medical treatment, Plankenhorn said she was worried about what Child Protective Services and Animal Care and Control would do.
“I didn’t want the police involved. I didn’t want animal control involved and I didn’t want CPS involved,” she said. “When they get involved in your life they will … take the report and add what they want to it and they distort the facts. By the time the report is written, it’s not at all the way you told it.”
Police said the law is clear that when a minor needs medical attention, an adult must seek it.
“When they become injured, they need to contact the appropriate medical authority, call EMS, take the child to the hospital, particularly in this case, where there were obvious signs of serious injury to the child,” said Indianapolis police Sgt. Paul Thompson.
Plankenhorn admitted she kept her granddaughter home from school for a week. Once she returned to class, school officials said it was obvious she needed medical treatment because she walked with a limp and had numerous bite marks. The girl was taken to Riley Hospital for Children.
“In hindsight, yes I probably didn’t make the right decision, but at the time I felt that I did,” Plankenhorn said.
Plankenhorn said she didn’t know it was against the law to treat the girl on her own and that the wounds weren’t that serious.
Plankenhorn was released after her bond was reduced from $40,000 to $20,000.
