Boy jumps into action to save 5-year-old sister from pit bull attack in Jersey City

JERSEY CITY, New Jersey (WABC) -- A 5-year-old girl in New Jersey was viciously attacked by pit bulls.

And now her 12-year-old brother is describing the frightening moments when he jumped into action to save his baby sister.

The girl is recovering in the hospital. She was in the yard behind her grandmother's apartment in Jersey City when two pit bulls got loose and attacked.

"I got bit by two dogs," London said. "We were going to my grandmother's house and the dogs went out of the gate and started to bite me."

And police say it's not the first time something like this has happened.

It is not simply by miracle that 5-year-old London survived that vicious pit bull attack on Sunday, when the dogs ripped into her small legs.

It was because of her brave brother Jahmir. But the incident has changed his young heart as well.

"I wasn't scared because I'm not scared of dogs that much, actually I love dogs and I want to be a veterinarian, but I don't want to be a veterinarian anymore because of what the dogs did," said Jahmir.

Jahmir, his sister, brother and cousins were walking through the backyard of Bostwick Court homes when the dogs came out of nowhere, attacking London, the smallest.

A neighbor threw a cane at the dogs and Jahmir picked it up. "I was hitting the dog with the cane while I was pulling my little sister, pulled out my phone and called for help," he said.

By then, neighbors had come with bats. "And they started beating the dogs with the bats but they still weren't backing down..they started attacking the gentlemen," said London and Jahmir's mother, Tyiesha Johnson.

Jahmir was bitten trying to rescue his little sister, who suffered injuries that had doctors at Jersey City Medical Center in a desperate fight to save London's leg.

Police identified the dogs' owner as 37-year-old James S. Grant. He was arrested on 12 open warrants of failing to appear for three unlicensed dogs, no leashes, having vicious dogs outside with no muzzles.

The dogs were quarantined. At least one has been euthanized.

London has a long recovery, sustaining broken bones, broken kneecap, torn veins and ripped muscles.

"She's in a lot of pain, her second surgery was yesterday and she has approximately two to three more, the doctor said, to go," said her mom.

Jahmir is also shaken under his hero smile, but he saved a life.

"He was just doing what a big brother does. Protect his family, his little sister. I thank him for that," said Tyiesha.