Neighbor Rescues Spokane Woman Attacked By Pit bull

WASHINGTON -- Cinnamon chewed happily on a bone Thursday afternoon. The Labrador Boxer mix had a few scratches on her ear and was a little more skittish than usual but overall it was hard to tell Cinnamon had been involved in what some have called a drive-by dog mauling.

Two days earlier retiree Joan Scott, 72, was walking Cinnamon as she has for five years since her owner, Dan Berard, works during the day. The pair were walking at the intersection of north Madison Street and west Queen Avenue in North Spokane. Around noon Scott said a red car turned the corner, slowed down and a black pit bull jumped out of the window of the moving car.

"That dog just jumped out and it bit my hand," Scott said.

Cinnamon tried to protect Scott but said the pit bull got to her first, biting down hard on her hand and knocking her to the ground.

"I was scared and, mostly, I was concerned about Cinnamon and trying to get the dog away from her," Scott said.

Several witnesses said the drivers of the red car got out but just stood there. Several witnesses said the driver did not try to wrangle the dog.

From across the street neighbor Linda King grabbed a shovel and ran to help her friend.

"I was two houses away and I thought 'nobody's stopping this. People were starting to come around but nothing was happening so I grabbed a shovel from my yard," King said. "I ran down there and starting pounding on the dog's nose and head with the shovel."

After being hit by the shovel the pit bull went back to the car where it came from and the people drove away. They said no information was exchanged, no apologies given.
 

"I'm still in shock," Scott said. "There's no getting around that, and I'm in pain."

Now Scott's hand, wrist, parts of her arms and legs were bandaged. She also had several bruises and was on oxygen to help her breathe after the attack.

Scott was nearly brought to tears by her friend's quick actions.

"She's my hero, she saved us," Scott explained. "I don't know what would have happened if it hadn't have been for Linda."

Thursday animal control officers from Spokanimal began an investigation.

Scott only hopes they can find the owners and the pit bull that surprisingly attacked her and Cinnamon.

"I'm worried about that dog hurting somebody else," she said.

Scott does plan to press charges and cite the pit bull as potentially dangerous.

Animal control officers told KHQ that an incident like this is very rare. Ken Trambitas said, in his 24 years as an animal control officer, he's never seen a dog jump out the window of a moving car to attack another animal. Based on this attack he said it's likely the dog did something like this before.

(KHQ - September 22, 2011)