Pachmayer said she rushed to the window of her second-floor apartment and witnessed a woman being bitten by a dog. Without thinking, Pachmayer grabbed a long curtain rod from her bedroom, scrambled down a flight of stairs and hurried into the parking lot.
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| Rachel Pachmayer recounts the dog attack in the parking area of her Massillon apartment complex, where she saved a woman from a dog attack while wielding this curtain rod. |
At that point, the dog, which she described as a Rottweiler mix, was biting the woman’s arm.
Pachmayer, who described herself as an animal lover, reacted quickly.
“I hit the dog in the head and it ended up jumping up and biting her in the face,” she said. “... I kept yelling at the dog in a strong voice. He was just going at it. He wasn’t listening to anything.”
Pachmayer said she swung the rod a second time, striking the dog in the back. Then, she blocked the entrance to her apartment at 2524 Meadows Ave. NW to keep the dog from going inside, where a small child had retreated during the incident. Another woman escorted the dog inside, where it was confined.
Pachmayer, who’s usually not home during the morning, said she still can’t believe what happened.
“I sat back and it felt like a dream. It was scary,” Pachmayer said. “... I didn’t think at all, especially when I was out helping (victim).”
The 27-year-old victim, who apparently was visiting a resident of a downstairs unit, was transported to Mercy Medical Center by the Massillon Fire Department. The extent of her injuries is unknown.
Officials declined to release the victim’s name, citing patient privacy laws.
An investigation is ongoing to determine whether the dog bite was provoked, Stark County Dog Warden Reagan Tetreault said. Under the state’s new vicious dog law, dogs can be classified as dangerous if investigators determine a bite was unprovoked. If a dog is found to be dangerous, however, the law requires owners to obtain liability insurance, register the dog and have a microchip inserted.
“We’re not going to unfairly deem a dog dangerous,” Tetreault said.
The dog’s owner could not be reached for comment Wednesday afternoon.
Pachmayer said she had never seen the dog act aggressively toward anyone.
“I’ve been around that dog before and it has licked me,” she said.
The Dog Warden’s office contacted the dog’s owner and instructed her to quarantine the dog, Tetreault said. The office typically does not seize dogs unless it has a court order from a judge.
Tetreault added the dog’s owner was cited for not having a dog license and failing to have the animal properly vaccinated for rabies.
(Massillon Independent - August 16, 2012)
