A 9-year-old girl was mauled to death by a pit bull as she played in a backyard in Long Island over the weekend.
Amiyah Kayla Dunston was visiting her biological father when a pit bull named Kane charged at her around 10:30 a.m. Sunday.
Amiyah was in the backyard playing with two girls — 8 and 9 — when she was attacked by the pit. Neighbors were unable to pull the dog off of her.
A next door neighbor said a doctor up the block tried to help the child. “He threw a garbage can at the dog, but he wouldn’t let her go,” said the neighbor.
“He was holding her somewhere on the side — I don’t know if it was the ears or the neck — and he was throwing her around like a rag doll,” the neighbor told The Post.
The pit bull’s owner, 29-year-old Carlyle Arnold was arrested on an unrelated charge on Monday. His bail was set at $10,000.
The girl’s distraught mother, Mayra Castillo, mourned the loss of her “princess” as she picked out funeral clothes for the child.
Castillo’s fiancé, Brian Willis, described Amiyah as “a phenomenal little girl” who “touched many lives with her presence, smiles and laughs.”
We thank you for all your support and prayers,” said Willis. “Just please let us mourn our terrible, tragic loss.”
Amiyah’s family set up an account on the Web site Go Fund Me asking for donations for her funeral and for grief counseling for themselves.
So far, more than $3,000 has been raised toward the family’s total goal of $15,000.
