A teen is speaking out after she was seriously injured in a sudden attack by her family’s pit bull in Northwest Miami-Dade.
Pictures provided by 17-year-old Makaylah Rolle’s family shows the gruesome injuries she suffered after the dog lunged at her behind their home, biting her arms and legs. During Monday’s interview, she said it was her first time returning to the home since being rushed to Ryder Trauma Center last Wednesday.
Rolle recounted the moments the terrifying attack started.
“It was here. He got on my leg, he grabbed my leg, and I went like this. I said, ‘Diablo, stop.’ That’s when I walked this way, his cage was right here, I walked toward his cage and then he just grabbed me by my pants and then I fell on top of the cage and that’s when he started biting my arm on this side. When I got up, he let me go and that’s when he still was holding onto me, I got right there. That’s where he did all the damage,” said Rolle.
She said it was a traumatic experience.
“I was just sitting there, screaming, crying, asking for my mom,” said Rolle.
Since she was discharged, Rolle has had to return to the hospital after several of the gashes on her arms and legs continued to bleed.
Rolle’s aunt, who is also a nurse, said they have a consistent routine each day to check her recovery progress, with the teen making strides, managing to walk on her own again.
“Daily wound checks and cleanings, dressing changes, those things of that nature. Now she’s able to up and walk, move around, she can move her arms and feet, initially she wasn’t so there’s a lot of progress that is happening now,” Rolle’s aunt said.
A day after the attack, Miami-Dade Animal Services came by the home to remove the dog. The pit bull is expected to be euthanized.
For Rolle, it’s not her first terrifying, violent experience.
She was previously rushed to the hospital after being shot in the leg during a shooting in Opa-locka in 2021.
“When I seen him shooting, I started running,” the then-12-year-old Rolle told 7News.
She was an innocent bystander that was struck by a stray bullet after two groups of people got into an argument at an apartment complex near the 13000 block of Aswan Road.
“I was scared. I thought I was gonna lose my life,” she said at the time.
Though Rolle’s recovery from the dog attack has made significant progress, her family has incurred substantial medical bills as she tries to get well enough to return to school for her senior year.
To learn more about how you can help Rolle’s family cover medical expenses, click here.
