Dog Mauling Interview – "I Love My Grandkids"

The step grandfather arrested in the fatal pit bull mauling of a two-year-old Concord boy never thought the family pets were capable of such deadly violence even though one had previous killed his pet Chihuahua, he told KTVU in a jailhouse interview Friday.

Steven Hayashi, 52, was arrested Thursday on felony charges of child endangerment and possession of a mischievous animal that caused death, Concord police Lt. Jim Lardieri said.

On Friday, he talked to KTVU at the Martinez jail, still visibly numbed by the young toddler’s death.

“I didn’t intentional kill my grandson,” Hayashi told KTVU. “I love all my grand kids...I don't want anyone to think I didn't love the kids in that house. I loved all of them.”

Hayashi described himself as an animal lover who was surprised the animals turned so violent.

“I thought pit bulls had a bad rap,” he said. “I’m one of those animal lovers who thinks dogs are dogs. Now I mistrust all dogs.”

But Hayashi added that he would not let his children and grand kids play with the dogs “without supervision.” He said that the children played with four of the dogs, but never with the largest of the five.

“I always didn’t want them to handle the dogs or at least get close to the dogs without supervision,” he said.

Hayashi said he believed that the largest dog, "Kiwi", initiated the attack.

According to Hayashi, all of the dogs had been raised to be family pets and were gentle and friendly except for Kiwi.

"I never let Kiwi around my grandchildren because I didn't trust him," Hayashi said.

About a year before the attack, the dogs attacked and killed his pet Chihuahua, "Ruby."

Although nobody saw the pit bulls kill the Chihuahua, Hayashi said he believes Kiwi was the one that killed it.

The dogs had never displayed any aggression toward humans, though, and everyone except Jacob and his brother could handle them without a problem, Hayashi said.

He said he had not set out to have five pit bulls. He got the first dog, "Sadie," from an animal shelter and later discovered that she was pregnant.

Even the people at animal shelter didn't know Sadie was pregnant, Hayashi said.

Sadie had two puppies, Kiwi and "Jake." Sadie, Kiwi and Jake were the three dogs that killed Jacob, Hayashi said.

He said he procrastinated in getting Sadie spayed because he didn't have the money and, a short time later, she got pregnant again. She had two more puppies, "Max" and "CJ," which were kept in the yard.

Hayashi described little Jacob Bisbee as a “loving child.”

“He was a curious, mischievous, typical two-year-old boy,” he said. “Very loving – when he feels that his brother is teasing him or people get mad at him he comes to me for a hug.”

Hayashi said the brutal reality of the death was hard to accept.

“I don’t want to think about what happened to him,” he said. “I just want to think of the good things. It pains me just to hear about it."

And while he believes he should not be in jail, he took responsibility for the attack.

"Having the dogs is my fault," he said. "That is a burden I will carry on with me the rest of my life. Even though the dogs did the mauling, indirectly it is my responsibility to make sure things like this didn't happen."

The toddler reportedly wandered away from his relatives, entering a garage where three family pit bulls viciously attacked and mauled him to death.

Lardieri said police and animal control officers arrived at a home in the 1700 block of Trail Creek Court at around 9 a.m. after receiving a report that a child had been attacked by dogs.

The boy was at home with his grandmother, his uncle and his 4-year-old brother at the time of the attack, police said. Two pit bulls were in the yard and three others were in the garage.

When the 2-year-old wandered into the garage, the three dogs attacked him, Lardieri said.

The boy was taken by ambulance to a hospital where he was pronounced dead. Lardieri added there were no other injuries.

Animal control officers have seized all five dogs and destroyed them Thursday.

KTVU spoke with several neighbors and no one living nearby knew that the family had five pit bulls. But several said they had concerns about at least one dog from the house in the past.

“Yes, they were aggressively barking,” said neighbor Linda Richardson. “We have twin granddaughters riding their bikes in the court out here, where you'd think you're gonna be safe.”

“I was washing the car and the dog came to me -- pit bull, brown color -- and I was scared,” said Elizabeth Mazan, another neighborhood resident. “And he was barking and I just told him ‘Go home! Go home!’”

Despite those incidents, county animal control said there were no reported incidents at this home or about the dogs.