Vandergrift mother, grandparents charged after 2nd child suffers life-threatening dog bite

As a 3-year-old Vandergrift girl was seriously bleeding from a dog bite to her head, her mother said “to get her a Popsicle,” borough police allege in court papers.

Vandergrift police charged the girl’s mother, Alexis Keys, 26; and grandparents, Michael Stankiewicz, 62, and Ida Stankiewicz, 68, on Thursday each with a felony count of child endangerment for the May 19 incident.

All three were also present last year, when the girl’s sister, whose age was not provided, was attacked and also severely injured by the same dog, police said in court papers. Both children needed immediate care to prevent death from blood loss and were taken to hospitals by helicopter.

Police did not identify the dog’s breed or size, and did not say what, if anything, was done with it.

When police responded to the Custer Avenue home May 19, an officer said Michael Stankiewicz was holding the dog in the living room while the girl was in a third-floor bedroom, covered in blood from head to toe and screaming, police said.

According to court papers, Michael Stankiewicz told police that neither he or his wife saw or heard anything. They did not call 911 or help the girl, police said.

The officer found Alexis Keys on the back porch with blood on her chest, neck and hands, police said. When the officer asked to be taken to the child, Keys began screaming about the dog and saying the officer needed to take it.

The girl and her sister were found in the bedroom alone. When asked to take her injured daughter outside, police said, Keys initially refused to touch her daughter until the officer went to pick her up, according to court records.

The girl had a large cut on the back of her head and was quickly becoming pale, police said. When the girl began losing color, Keys said to, “Get her a Popsicle,” police said in court papers.

The child was taken by helicopter to UPMC Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh. No information on her condition was available.

None of the defendants had an attorney listed in court records. Their preliminary hearings before Allegheny Township District Judge Cheryl Peck-Yakopec are scheduled for July 2.