KALAMAZOO, MI - A toddler critically injured in an attack by a pit bull was shaken like a rag doll, according to police reports.

Kalamazoo Public Safety officers were called at about 3:30 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 23, to the 1100 block of Lay Boulevard for the dog attack.

The victim, a 2-year-old boy, was staying at a family friend's house where a 34-year-old woman had been watching him since about 7 p.m., according to police reports obtained by MLive/Kalamazoo Gazette under the Freedom of Information Act.

The woman told police she woke up to the toddler crying and went downstairs to get him milk. When she got back to the top of the stairs, she found the dog on top of the child and, "shaking him like a rag doll," a police report said.

She yelled for her son to grab a broom and hit the dog, identified as a pit bull breed. The woman told police the dog was hit about three times in the head with the broom before it released the child from its jaws. When the toddler was free, she picked him up and called 911.

The child was motionless and not crying at the scene, but had a pulse and was breathing, a report said. He was taken to Bronson Methodist Hospital in Kalamazoo with severe head injuries and listed in critical condition. He was later transferred to the University of Michigan Children's Hospital in Ann Arbor.

Capt. Shannon Bagley of KDPS Criminal Investigation Division said on Tuesday, Jan. 16 he had heard the child was upgraded to stable condition.

The dog was taken by Kalamazoo County Animal Services and Enforcement, where an official said he was held for a 10-day observation period then euthanized.

The toddler's mother, whose name was redacted in the police reports, told Kalamazoo Public Safety Detective Eric Shaffer she took her son to the family friend's house and spent the day there with the 34-year-old woman and an 18-year-old woman. The child fell asleep on a couch in the residence.

At about 2:30 a.m., the victim's mother told the woman she was going to leave with the 18-year-old and a man called "Prea." According to the police report, the 34-year-old woman said she would watch the child. The victim's mother said they were gone for less than an hour when she was informed something happened to her son and she needed to return.

Prea told Shaffer he drove the toddler's mother and the 18-year-old woman back to the residence and left. Asked if he left to avoid contact with police, Prea admitted he had, the officer's report said.

Prea told Shaffer he got the dog for free and had taken it to the Lay Boulevard residence. Children there played with the dog and it was decided it would stay because the kids liked it so much, he said.

The victim's mother told police she had brought her son to the residence before and the dog had not been aggressive at that time, according to the police reports.

In an initial interview with police, the 34-year-old woman told officers she had bought the dog "off the street" and owned it for about a month. She said she was not aware of its history or if it was up-to-date on shots.

The woman later told police, however, that the dog had been brought to the house and left there. She said she did not have a license for the dog, which she estimated was about 18 months old, but was aware it should have been licensed.

Officer Greg Day wrote in his report that while talking to the woman at the scene after the attack, he could smell alcohol. She told him she had "a couple shots" of vodka but was not intoxicated.

According to the police reports, charges of owning a dangerous dog and owning an unlicensed dog were to be submitted to the Kalamazoo County Prosecutor's Office for review. The prosecutor's office declined to comment.