EAST HARLEM — A 7-year-old girl was attacked by a pit bull at a Madison Avenue public housing complex Monday afternoon, officials said.
Neighbors said the dog went for the cherry-flavored frozen "icee" the little girl was eating as she traveled up an elevator with the animal.
The girl was bitten on the arm at 2130 Madison Ave., near East 132nd Street, in the Lincoln Houses just after 3:20 p.m., an FDNY spokesman said.
She was taken to Harlem Hospital with a serious arm injury, according to officials.
"I came out of the building when all of the noise was going on and all I heard was the girl screaming," said a resident, who has lived in the building for more than 20 years and goes by the name Pain.
Pain, 52, who said he was friends with the victim's family, believed that girl was with her older brother on their way to a babysitter's apartment to pick up a younger brother when they got into an elevator with the pit bull on the fourth floor.
The dog — believed to be named Blue and belonging to another tenant — jumped up to reach the girl's cherry Icee, a frozen carbonated drink, Pain claimed.
"This is not the first time this has happened," Lincoln Houses tenant association president Patricia Herman said. "I have tried to warn people against pit bulls."
Two men were arrested and charged in the incident.
Vincent Evans, 30, who lives in the same building, was charged with reckless endangerment, obstruction of governmental administration and endangering the welfare of a child. Gary Evans, 28, who lives nearby, was charged with two counts of violation of local law for owning two pit bulls in a public housing project.
It was unclear if the men were related. They were awaiting arraignment.
Police officers finally restrained the dog with a device used to restrain animals. The dog, which appeared to be sedated when cops brought it out of the building, was taken by Animal Care and Control, police said.
