> Being accused of hurting children is a social death sentence.

Not really. Dog owners hurt children all the time, we have zero problems blaming 3 years old for "provoking" an adult!

They were scared and acted in self defense!

Child deserved to go to hospital! Hopefully it learned valuable lesson to respect dog owners and treat them better!

And not just dog owners; car drivers are apparently invulnerable to criticism or shame as well. Big SUVs have been demonstrated to kill children; people buy them, they don't care. Driving fast has been demonstrated to kill children; people speed, they don't care. They think it will never happen to them, as they believe themselves to be Good People, and getting to their destination fast in their nice big car is important to them, and any attempt to curtail that an affront to their freedom.

And when they mow children down, as statistically some of them always will, it's then always described as "an accident", as though performed by some capricious god beyond all human control.