A pit bull died yesterday after mauling a Chinese restaurant owner trying to slide a menu under the door of a house in Prospect-Lefferts Gardens. Xiu Ming Li, 52, was mauled by three pit bulls during the attack, and is currently listed in stable condition at Kings County Hospital with bites on his legs, arm and head. One of his earlobes was also chewed off! The dogs' owner, Samantha Sing, and the landlord, Desiree Murray, heard the dogs' barking and rushed outside to try and stop them. "He was saying ‘Help me, help me," Murray tells the Post. "He was just lying there. They would have killed him."
Murray insists there are "Beware of Dog" signs posted at the property line, and says Li could have left the menu in the mailbox without going through the gate. Sing and her nephew were able to pull the dogs off of Li, and when police arrived the pets were taken into custody without the use of tranquilizers. (The Daily News has a stunning photo of this process.) But one of the dogs, Joe, died while at the city's Animal Care and Control Center in Brooklyn. Sing thinks he had a heart attack because he was "hyped up" from the incident.
And when News reporters arrived at the house, they found Sing in a heated argument with Li's daughter. "He's in the hospital! He has bites all over his body! His ear is hanging off!" Li yelled at Sing, who pointed to the "Beware of Dog" sign hanging on a bush near her gate, yelling, "Our dogs are our kids! I lost my dog!" But Li's daughter replied, "He doesn't understand signs. The dogs shouldn't be so vicious. My dad didn't understand. Don't you understand? I believe a human life is more valuable than a dog's life."
No charges are being filed against Sing, and her two other dogs, both 4 years old, will be returned to her after being tested for rabies, provided she can show registration papers and proof of immunization. Previously on Unsolicited Menus, a City Council member tried to make it illegal to drop off menus, and one local vigilante started selling stickers warning trespassers that fingers will be crushed if menus are put under the door.
