Man, 20, killed in daylight stabbing

A 5-YEAR-OLD Brooklyn boy savagely mauled by at least one of his family’s pit bulls was in critical condition Friday night, authorities and relatives said.

The child, identified by neighbors as Jeremiah Rivera, was inside his home on Riverdale Ave. near Georgia Ave. in East New York when he was attacked at about 6:45 p.m., officials said.

“I did the best I could to help that baby. I ran in there. It was so horrific. The baby was lying on the floor in a pool of blood and body matter,” witness Lloyd McCammon told the Daily News.

“All of his left face was gone. He couldn’t breathe. I pressed a towel to his face but there was nothing left,” McCammon, 39, said.

Jeremiah was fighting for his life in the intensive care unit at Long Island Jewish Hospital Friday night, where his uncle said he was waiting for surgery.

“The only thing that’s saving him is a tube in his throat that’s stopping blood from going into his lungs,” the uncle said.

Medics had first rushed the boy to Brookdale University Hospital, but he was later transferred, police said. The boy lives in a first-floor apartment with his father, Joel Rivera, mother, two brothers and baby sister, neighbors said.

After the attack, Jeremiah’s father, ran out of the house screaming “Oh God!” witnesses said.

He then sprinted after medics as they wheeled away his wounded son. He collapsed on the sidewalk after first responders pulled him away from a waiting ambulance.

Neighbors said Jeremiah’s father had taken him on a walk with the two dogs just days earlier.

“I told him to be careful with the dogs,” said McCammon, who lives across the street.

Another neighbor said he did not know the pit bulls to be violent.

“I’ve never seen the dogs jump with anybody. They were good dogs. They don’t even bark,” said Tarell Williams, 40, who owns a pit bull himself.

He said Jeremiah was famous in the neighborhood for the smile he nearly always had on his face.

“It’s sad. I’ve known Jeremiah since he was in Pampers,” Williams said. “My wife calls him her little boyfriend.”

The child’s family had kept the dogs inside cages in the apartment’s kitchen, a cop source said.

Animal Care and Control took custody of both dogs and moved them to a site in Manhattan. A BROOKLYN MAN was fatally stabbed during a brawl in broad daylight Friday, police said.

Brelin Flores, 20 was fighting with another man on Crescent St. and Belmont Ave. in East New York when that man took out a knife and stabbed him repeatedly in the chest around 3 p.m., cops said.

The suspect took off down Belmont Ave., police said.

He was still on the loose Friday night.

Flores, who lived two blocks away from the scene, was taken to Brookdale University Hospital, where he died.