His neighbor had to fight the dog off and eventually stab it to death to stop it from attacking.
Jeremy Byrd's friends say the dog has caused a lot of problems in their neighborhood, and late Tuesday night, it attacked Byrd several times before they were able to come to the rescue.
Larry Tessier has spent the day cleaning his front porch and looking back on a bizarre evening.
Tessier's friend, Jeremy Byrd, lives in the basement of the house next-door to him. The property is home to several dogs, some of which could be seen in kennels on the side of the house, but Tessier said it was a pit bull that caused the problems.
"It's been abused and not treated like dogs should be," Tessier said. "It hasn't been properly taken care of and given the love that it needs to be a good dog."
Around 9:30 p.m., Tessier said the dog got out of the home and attacked Byrd somewhere in the front yard.
Byrd got free and ran next door. Tessier heard his mother yell and discovered the dog had clamped on to Byrd's left arm.
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| Heroes: Larry Tessier and his mom saved Jeremy |
"It was right about his elbow and the dog was latched on pretty hard, but whenever I grabbed it by the throat, right up underneath its jaw muscles, it released its jaws," Tessier said.
Tessier put the dog in a choke hold and fell to the porch.
"I had it like this and when it went to turn its head, I just shoved its head into my forearm and dropped my body weight on it," he said.
His mom grabbed some steak knives and came running outside. She stabbed the dog several times before it died.
Tessier said the dog has attacked other people before and the Tulsa County Sheriff's Office said the dog's owner has been served notice that he owns a potentially dangerous animal.
Tessier said he's proud he helped his friend, but frustrated that the dog was able to get out in the first place.
"It's discouraging to see, for one, animals treated that way and, for two, be allowed to be in a situation where they still can attack someone after they've been known to attack," he said.
The Sheriff's Office says animal control is investigating.
Tessier's neighbor who lives in the same portion of the house with the dogs was not home when we were there Wednesday. It's not known what will happen to the other dogs on the property.
(News9 - March 7, 2013)
