DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – A man suspected of child neglect was arrested after refusing to take his daughter to the hospital when a dog bit her, according to the Daytona Beach Police Department.
Florida Department of Children and Families investigators and Daytona Beach officers said the girl was bit by a red American bulldog on July 28, according to a charging affidavit.
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Trenton Boettcher, 27, was arrested two days later and told officers he didn’t take the girl to the hospital the day of the dog bite because he “can’t do hospitals,” the affidavit shows.
Officers said the girl, who was visiting Boettcher from Minnesota, was taken to the hospital by her stepmother the day after the attack. She refused to have the victim’s wounds photographed at the hospital and was “hesitant to tell (the girl’s) mother of the dog attack,” an affidavit reads.
The girl had severe puncture wounds and a deep laceration under her right armpit, according to the affidavit. When officers and DCF investigators arrived to the Daytona Beach home on July 30, they saw an “oozing coming from the wound” that was bandaged, investigators said.
Officers said they discovered that the American bulldog is “normally aggressive and vicious” toward the girl. Boettcher told officers he did not see the dog bite but did intervene to take the dog off his daughter, according to the affidavit.
Boettcher and the girl’s stepmother also agreed to a drug test and tested positive for THC and cocaine, according to the affidavit. Along with the victim, three other children were removed from the home.
Boettcher is facing two charges, including child neglect causing great harm and an attack by a known dangerous dog. He is being held without bond.
The stepmother is also facing a child neglect charge.
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