A recent court filing disclosed how bystanders in Brooklyn Park armed themselves with anything in their reach to fend off two pit bull mixes as they gravely wounded a toddler and seriously injured the boy’s mother.
Natasha Palacios Vega and Charles Allen, parents of 3-year-old Covil Allen, prepared their son to be an organ donor, according to an online fundraising campaign launched to help the family cope with expenses related to the July 19 incident in the 7500 block of N. Brooklyn Park Drive.
A follow-up posting Friday included a photo of the couple next to Covil’s empty hospital bed and the words, “It’s been a hard day as they are beginning the testing so Covil can donate his organs.”
The Champlin family posted no further updates as of late Friday morning, and an HCMC spokeswoman said Covil remains in critical condition.
A search warrant affidavit police filed this week disclosed they collected vaccination and other medical records for the dogs, Blue and Nisi, and bodily and clothing evidence from the home.
According to the filing and earlier police accounts:
Covil and his mother were at a home in the 7500 block of N. Brooklyn Park Drive, where dogs were for sale. One of the dogs attacked Covil in the backyard, and a second one joined in.
“There were adults in the area that started to defend the 3-year-old by using hammers and pick axes to get the dogs off the 3-year-old,” the filing read.