A routine walk to school in West Valley City turned frightening last Monday when a loose pit bull jumped a yard fence and bit an 11-year-old girl, according to her family. A crossing guard, they say, rushed in, swung her stop sign at the dog, and pried it off the child before it could do more damage.
The girl, identified by her family as 11-year-old Alexis Fuette, suffered minor injuries and is expected to recover. Her relatives say the crossing guard’s split-second decision almost certainly kept a bad situation from becoming far worse.
Neighbor credited the crossing guard with saving the child
As reported by FOX 13 News, the guard, Ruta Pataialii, said she saw the dog on Alexis and sprinted toward them.
“I ran over and took my sign and hit the dog's head,” Pataialii told the station, explaining that she then used the sign to lever the dog away during a brief struggle. The Fuette family said the pit bull had lunged up onto a fence line and grabbed Alexis’ arm, but that the bite wounds were ultimately minor.
Family members told FOX 13 they have known Pataialii for years and see her as a steady presence in the neighborhood. This time, they added, her everyday job at the crosswalk turned into something closer to hero work.
What crossing guards in West Valley are trained to do
According to West Valley City, school crossing guards go through in-house training and must be certified in CPR and first aid before they take their posts. They also undergo background checks as part of the hiring process.
The city describes crossing guards as a frontline part of its effort to keep children safe on their way to and from school. Training is designed to help guards manage traffic and also respond quickly when emergencies unfold near school routes.
Legal and animal-control context
Utah law allows people who are injured by a dog to seek civil damages from the animal’s owner if the victim was lawfully on public or private property at the time. The standard focuses on whether the dog caused the injury and whether the person had a right to be there, rather than requiring proof that the dog had a prior history of aggression. Defenses such as provocation can still come into play.
Local rules give West Valley City animal services authority to investigate dog-bite incidents and to take steps such as quarantine or other measures when a dog may pose a public safety risk. The Animal Legal & Historical Center provides an overview of those state-level responsibilities and procedures.
The Fuette family told FOX 13 they are shaken but grateful that Alexis walked away with relatively minor injuries. “What if it got her face? Her life would've never been the same,” her mother, Tawnya Fuette, said.
Pataialii told the station that her reaction was instinctive. “If that was my granddaughter, I would have done the same thing,” she said. The family added that Pataialii moved to Utah after living in American Samoa and California and has been looking out for neighborhood kids for years.
Neighbors and parents say the scare is a blunt reminder of how quickly an ordinary walk to school can turn dangerous, and of the tough calls crossing guards sometimes have to make in the moment to protect children. The Fuette family says they plan to keep thanking Pataialii for a long time to come.
