PORT ANGELES — A Port Angeles boy was transferred to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle on Wednesday night after his father’s dog mauled him in his home while his father — who has since been arrested — was away.
Port Angeles police captured the dog Wednesday night, but it escaped. It remained at large early Thursday night.
James Sims, 11, was bitten several times on his face, hands and arms at about 5:30 p.m. while he was alone at his father’s apartment at 122 W. Fifth St., said Port Angeles Police Deputy Chief Brian Smith.
He was reported in satisfactory condition Thursday afternoon, hospital personnel said.
His father, Matt Boyd Sims, 38, was arrested Thursday morning on investigation of two counts of possession of stolen motor vehicles, one count of possession of stolen property in the second degree and criminal mistreatment in the second degree — all felony charges, Smith said.
He remained in custody in the Clallam County jail Thursday night with no bail set.
Police consider the dog to be aggressive, Smith said.
Police think the boy provoked the attack, but Smith did not say how.
He said it was unknown whether the dog would react aggressively to anyone other than the boy.
“Regardless of that, we are treating this as an aggressive dog,” Smith said.
Neighbor Kevin Talbot said he took James to Olympic Medical Center in Port Angeles at about 5:45 p.m. after the child came to him for help.
“It was really scary because he was bleeding right there on my stoop,” Talbot said.
“I fixed him up a bit, and took him right to the hospital. I let some other neighbors call the police, but I just took him right on to the hospital.”
Talbot said James could not tell him why the dog attacked him.
Police officers talked to James at Olympic Medical Center — from which he was later transferred by ground ambulance to the Seattle hospital — and headed for the apartment to find the dog, a black lab mix that weighs about 50 pounds and whose name is either Jake or Jack, Smith said.
By about 7:50 p.m., the police had obtained a search warrant to enter the apartment and get the dog, which neighbors said had been “barking and raging for at least four hours,” Smith said.
Officers caught the dog, using a pole with a loop at the end used to control aggressive animals, Smith said.
But on the way downstairs, the button loosening the rope loop at the end was inadvertently pushed, Smith said.
“We had captured the dog and taken it down the stairs, only for it to break loose,” Smith said.
“Earlier this morning, an officer saw it and pursued it and attempted to use his Taser on it, but the Taser missed, and unfortunately, the dog is still at large,” Smith said Thursday.
On Wednesday, police could not find the boy’s father.
Talbot said that he talked with Matt Sims in the early morning hours Thursday, and that he had told him he had taken his son to the hospital and that police had been involved.
“After that, he took off,” Talbot said.
Thursday morning, Port Angeles officers requested assistance from the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office and U.S. Border Patrol agents, Smith said.
Port Angeles police officers were searching the area between Oak and Cherry streets at about 8:30 a.m., when a Border Patrol agent spotted Sims walking behind the former Gottschalks building at 200 W. First St., in downtown Port Angeles, Smith said.
Smith said that officers later determined that he had spent the night at a park with the dog.
“It appears that early [Thursday] morning, the dog was released, on accident or on purpose, by Sims,” Smith said.
During the investigation, police found two vehicles that had been reported stolen.
“In the process of this investigation we recovered a stolen motorcycle and a stolen van,” Smith said.
On Wednesday night, a sergeant saw a van, which matched the description of the vehicle Sims was thought to be driving, approach the apartment and then drive away.
The van was stopped and was found to be driven by someone other than Sims. It was reported stolen from Colorado in 2008, and had false plates, Smith said.
At about 1:30 a.m., neighbors called police to say that a man on a motorcycle had arrived at the apartment.
Police found a motorcycle similar to the one the neighbor described parked in the 200 block of West Sixth Street in the alley, Smith said.
It had been reported stolen in Auburn on Tuesday
Smith said police are working with the Port Angeles city attorney to have the dog declared potentially dangerous.
A potentially dangerous declaration means that the dog would have to be kept in a secure area, Smith said.
A dangerous dog declaration would be even more stringent, but because police believe that the dog was provoked to bite, they will pursue only a designation of “potentially dangerous,” Smith said.
“Our K-9 officer, who has spent many, many hours around dogs, said that this dog is a fear aggressor,” Smith said.
“What that means is that the dog likely won’t be aggressive unless it feels cornered.
“So what we want is to make sure that people don’t corner it.”
Smith urged those who see the dog to phone 9-1-1.
“People should not try and capture this dog themselves,” he emphasized.
The dog has a piece of rope on its neck, Smith said.
Child Protective Services has been notified, Smith said, and the boy remained in protective custody Thursday.
Talbot said that he moved to Port Angeles six weeks ago to be closer to his fiancee, and that the Sims had moved in nearby about a month ago. He didn’t know where they were from.
Talbot said he knows the boy because both are mountain biking enthusiasts.
“So James knew me from that, so he knew to come to my place when it all happened,” Talbot said.
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Reporter Paige Dickerson can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at paige.dickerson@peninsuladailynews.com.
