The father of a 5-year-old Brooklyn boy who was horribly mauled by his dad’s pit bull broke down in tears Sunday as he recalled waking to find his young son on the living room floor, choking on his own blood.
“He didn’t have a face,” father Joel Rivera sobbed of son Jeremiah, who has been hospitalized since the Friday evening attack. “Just teeth, that was all I could see. And the smell of raw meat.”
One of the father’s two dogs, who are typically kenneled, somehow escaped after Rivera made Jeremiah and his daughter grilled cheese sandwiches and then fell asleep on the couch as they watched cartoons.
Jeremiah’s uncle, Michael Pride, has told The Post that the family believes the tot was protecting his sisters, ages 8 and 1, from the dog when he was mauled. It was the 1-year-old girl’s birthday.
Rivera echoed that sentiment Sunday, saying “I believe he fought the dog to save the other two kids.”
“He wasn’t breathing,” Rivera said, recalling finding his son. “I yelled at him and said, ‘Come back! I love you, come back! I got you, come back to Daddy!’
‘Just teeth, that was all I could see. And the smell of raw meat’
“He made a noise, and [he] started breathing,” the emotional father said, weeping. “I yelled and screamed so loud everybody came running. I ran into the street everybody started calling on their phones calling for help.”
Rivera told The Post he ran into the street to flag down a random firetruck, and then fainted on the stoop as smoke eaters rushed in to save his son.
When he woke up, cops had swarmed the building, and his child was en route to the hospital.
“Then at the hospital they let me see him,” Rivera said. “I said, ‘I’m here, I got you.’
“I said, ‘You’re beautiful, you’re a champ, daddy is real proud of you, you did a great job,’ ” he added.
Rivera broke down in sobs again, his eyes lingering on his bloodstained clothing.
“This is [Jeremiah’s] blood on my shoes and my pants,” he said. “The last time I had his blood on me was when I cut his umbilical cord. I am responsible for this. This is my fault. Man’s best friend?! How you going to do this to my son and called be called man’s best friend?”
Jeremiah suffered deep lacerations on his face and neck and lost two pints of blood. His father said he thinks there are some 2,000 stitches in the boy’s face.
“When the cops got there at the house, I begged them to shoot the damn dog!” Rivera raged. “I was screaming, ‘Shoot the damn dog!’ I asked them to give me the gun so I could shoot the dog. They put [the dogs] in the bathroom. Then someone took [the dogs].
Both dogs were seized by the city’s Animal Care and Control on Friday night, and their fate remains unclear.
ACC did not respond to an immediate request for comment.
“The last thing I ate was grilled cheese with my kids two days ago,” Rivera said, again dissolving into tears. “I can’t eat. I close my eyes and I see [Jeremiah] smiling. Singing happy birthday [to his sister]. I just want to hear him laugh again.”
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