UNITED KINGDOM -- A 70-year-old woman has told how she was knocked down and mauled in the street by a dog.
Great-grandmother Ruby Burgess said she thought she was going to be killed by the German Shepherd as it attacked her on the pavement in Broad Avenue in Evington, Leicester.
The attack happened at about 11.30am on Saturday as she was waiting at a pedestrian crossing near to her home in Cropthorne Avenue.
Police said the dog had been identified and inquiries into the incident "were ongoing".
Mrs Burgess said: "I was just standing there on my way into town to do some shopping when I felt a sharp pain in my left hand.
"I looked down and saw blood dripping from my fingers. I looked behind me and saw this big Alsatian dog snarling at me.
"I just had time to realise it had bitten me when it launched at me and knocked me over.
"I fell to the pavement and it attacked me. I genuinely thought I was going to be killed.
"It was on top of me, biting me and trying to go for my throat. It was terrifying and if I had not been wearing a leather coat my injuries would have been a lot worse.
"I had to shield my throat and face with my arms because the dog was going for me there, it was horrific."
Mrs Burgess said a girl, believed to be about 12 years old, was holding onto the dog's lead throughout the attack but was not strong enough to pull it away.
She said: "I somehow managed to get to my feet and the dog stopped. The girl and the dog ran away."
Mrs Burgess said some drivers stopped and one dialled 999.
After waiting for a few minutes for an ambulance she went home to get her husband Leroy, 72. The couple then returned to the scene of the attack and waited for help.
Mr Burgess flagged down a passing police car and an officer gave her first aid before a colleague in another car took her to Leicester Royal Infirmary.
Mrs Burgess said she was treated for the wounds to her left hand and to bites on her right thigh and right upper arm.
Mrs Burgess' daughter Marcia Campbell, 49, who lives off Evington Road in Leicester, said the dog should be put down.
She said: "It is obviously a dangerous animal and must be destroyed before it can attack anyone else."
She said her mother had told police the house where the dog lives.
A Leicestershire police spokesman said: "Police are investigating an incident where a woman was bitten by a dog. The dog has been identified by police and the owners have been spoken to but inquiries are ongoing."
(This is Leicestershire - Nov 1, 2011)