Tuesday, March 6, 2007

Florida: "I thought I was dead," says man with more than 2,000 stitches after attack by pack of pit bulls

FLORIDA -- Robert Wall thought he was a dead man.

Two powerful dogs had jumped on his back, two others latched on to his arms and a fifth dug its teeth into a leg.

"I thought I was dead already," the 5-foot-7, 160-pound tree cutter said from his bed at the North Broward Medical Center. "I've never been in such a dark place in my life."

More than 2,000 stitches later and grateful to be alive, Wall, 28, told Monday of his brush with death.

The attack happened before dawn Friday as Wall took a shortcut home to Deerfield East Apartments from a gas station at Southeast 10th Street and Federal Highway, where he went to buy cigarettes.

When he reached Southeast 13th Street, he said he saw five dogs "frolicking" in the dark. He took a step back, but not fast enough.

The dogs, mostly pit bulls, came at him within seconds, he said. He punched and tried to throw them off, but they dug in their teeth, drawing blood. Wall said he struggled to run to a well-lit area where people could see him, but the dogs continued biting, slowing him down.

Finally, Wall made it close enough to a Denny's restaurant and patrons heard his screams.

"I just gave up and hit the ground," he said.

"I started yelling to God, `Please help me!'"

Broward sheriff's deputies arrived as Wall lay on the ground. An officer fired a stun gun that scattered the dogs. Paramedics rushed Wall to North Broward Medical Center. Doctors there said he had been bitten 182 times, according to plastic surgeon Dr. Bose Yalamanchi.

As Yalamanchi operated, deputies and an animal control officer searched for the canines.

A few hours before Wall was attacked, deputies had responded to a report of the dogs mauling a pet rabbit and guinea pig.

(Sun Sentinel - March 6, 2007)