(TX) Neighbor rescues man mauled by his own pit bull 10-20-03
Date: Oct 28, 2003 12:17 AM
http://news.mysanantonio.com/story.cfm?xla=saen&xlc=1072142
Neighbor rescues man mauled by his own pit bull
By Vincent T. Davis San Antonio Express-News
Web Posted : 10/20/2003 12:00 AM Terry Ayala was stirred from
her Sunday afternoon nap by loud barking.
When she peered from the bedroom window of her Northeast Side house, a
horrific sight was unfolding in the yard next door.
Ayala's neighbor, Malko Oswald, was on the ground behind his house with
his 50-pound pit bull latched to his face.
Ayala screamed for her husband, retired San Antonio police officer
Hector Ayala. He leapt from the living room chair where he was watching
the first half of the Dallas Cowboys game and raced to the backyard
fence, screaming at the dog to stop.
The dog ignored Ayala's shouts, locking its jaws on Oswald, and chewing
at the right side of his owner's face and arm.
Ayala then grabbed his Glock 9 mm handgun from the house and fired a
shot into the ground, finally scaring the dog off his owner. He said the
gun was a retirement present from the police department.
As of late Sunday, Oswald, 48, was in stable condition at Brooke Army
Medical Center with lacerations to his face and arm and puncture wounds
to his side.
After the dog released him, Oswald struggled to his feet, leaning on a
clothesline pole as Ayala burst through his neighbor's front door to
help him. "I coaxed Mike to walk to the (back) porch," Ayala, 59, said.
The dog paced in front of its kennel as Ayala pulled his neighbor into
the front yard.
A wide blood smear on the glass front door of the house in the 5800
block of Sun Bay was still visible later in the afternoon.
"I just wanted to make sure he was OK," Ayala said of rushing to help
his neighbor. "Today the damn dog just turned on him and got the better
part of Mike."
Neighbors said they haven't heard of any past problems with the pit
bull, one of three dogs Oswald owns. The other dogs are not pit bulls.
Pastor Dorothy Mack of Faith Harvest Church, who lives on the other side
of Oswald, said neighborhood children often play in Oswald's backyard
without any problems.
To hear about today's attack, that's sad, he's quite a sweet man," Mack
said. "God bless that man. We'll be praying for him."
A police report said animal control officers retrieved the pit bull.
This is at least the third pit bull attack in San Antonio this year.
On May 7, two pit bulls killed a 13-year-old shih tzu and mauled a
60-year-old jogger in north San Antonio. On Feb. 8, a pit bull attacked
three people on the South Side.
[email protected] 10/20/2003
Date: Oct 28, 2003 12:17 AM
http://news.mysanantonio.com/story.cfm?xla=saen&xlc=1072142
Neighbor rescues man mauled by his own pit bull
By Vincent T. Davis San Antonio Express-News
Web Posted : 10/20/2003 12:00 AM Terry Ayala was stirred from
her Sunday afternoon nap by loud barking.
When she peered from the bedroom window of her Northeast Side house, a
horrific sight was unfolding in the yard next door.
Ayala's neighbor, Malko Oswald, was on the ground behind his house with
his 50-pound pit bull latched to his face.
Ayala screamed for her husband, retired San Antonio police officer
Hector Ayala. He leapt from the living room chair where he was watching
the first half of the Dallas Cowboys game and raced to the backyard
fence, screaming at the dog to stop.
The dog ignored Ayala's shouts, locking its jaws on Oswald, and chewing
at the right side of his owner's face and arm.
Ayala then grabbed his Glock 9 mm handgun from the house and fired a
shot into the ground, finally scaring the dog off his owner. He said the
gun was a retirement present from the police department.
As of late Sunday, Oswald, 48, was in stable condition at Brooke Army
Medical Center with lacerations to his face and arm and puncture wounds
to his side.
After the dog released him, Oswald struggled to his feet, leaning on a
clothesline pole as Ayala burst through his neighbor's front door to
help him. "I coaxed Mike to walk to the (back) porch," Ayala, 59, said.
The dog paced in front of its kennel as Ayala pulled his neighbor into
the front yard.
A wide blood smear on the glass front door of the house in the 5800
block of Sun Bay was still visible later in the afternoon.
"I just wanted to make sure he was OK," Ayala said of rushing to help
his neighbor. "Today the damn dog just turned on him and got the better
part of Mike."
Neighbors said they haven't heard of any past problems with the pit
bull, one of three dogs Oswald owns. The other dogs are not pit bulls.
Pastor Dorothy Mack of Faith Harvest Church, who lives on the other side
of Oswald, said neighborhood children often play in Oswald's backyard
without any problems.
To hear about today's attack, that's sad, he's quite a sweet man," Mack
said. "God bless that man. We'll be praying for him."
A police report said animal control officers retrieved the pit bull.
This is at least the third pit bull attack in San Antonio this year.
On May 7, two pit bulls killed a 13-year-old shih tzu and mauled a
60-year-old jogger in north San Antonio. On Feb. 8, a pit bull attacked
three people on the South Side.
[email protected] 10/20/2003
