A Volusia County couple is recovering after deputies had to rescue them from what law enforcement called a vicious dog attack.
They say it was the second time the dog had attacked in a week — just six weeks after the couple adopted it. The dog was ultimately shot and killed by deputies.
The sheriff’s office said the attack was severe enough that it sent the couple to a hospital in Daytona Beach, where they say they underwent multiple surgeries.
“Hearing people scream for their lives, and there is nothing that you can do is — it’s horrific. It’s helpless. It’s awful,” said Rachel Maiorano, a neighbor who says she was inside her neighbor’s New Smyrna Beach home when the couple’s dog started attacking back on Mother’s Day. She called 911.
She says the dog, a pitbull according to the incident report, started biting the woman’s leg.
A man who lives in the house, the woman’s significant other, tried to stop the dog.
The woman hid inside the dog crate.
“When she was holding the crate shut, the dog was trying to chew her fingers off from the outside,” Maiorano said. “He snapped, he just snapped. He was this loving dog, and something just snapped.”
She says the dog then started attacking the man. According to the incident report, someone tried to get the man his gun. But it was ultimately deputies who shot the dog, opening fire when they saw the dog attacking the man. They had to fire a third shot after the dog “began to charge the deputies.”
“I’ve replayed it with my partner who was there. I’ve replayed it with them,” Maiorano said. “If any one thing, it’s not that it could have been better, if any one thing were different, it would have been far worse.”
The woman said her neighbors are recovering. The sheriff’s office said they received a note from them saying if deputies “had been one second later, we wouldn’t have made it out alive.”
The sheriff’s office says the deputies involved will receive life-saving awards for their actions in challenging circumstances.
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Source: wesh
