“I realized from watching the video, completely unprovoked,” said victim Timothy Bodine. “They just attacked me for absolutely no reason.”
The video shows Bodine digging out weeds while he’s on his knees with his back to the street. Two dogs come running down the street, spot Bodine and attack him from behind.
“All of a sudden, bam, this dog hits me really hard on the back of the leg,” said Bodine. “Which I realized at that second was a pit-bull biting me.”
Bodine said the only thing that saved him from being severely mauled was the shovel that he was using to dig out the weeds. Bodine said he struck one dog as hard as he could on its head with the shovel.
“Fortunately, he let go and off he went,” he said. “He was jumping towards my head, towards my face. I don’t know whether my neck or what. But I definitely felt in fear for my life at that point.”
That unprovoked attack happened on April 18, on the 6000 block of 105th Terrace N., in Pinellas Park. Bodine said he went to the hospital for his injuries.
“He bit me on the back of the leg. So, I had a couple of puncture wounds back there,” he said. “It ripped the fingernail off of this finger and the top of this finger off.”
Pinellas Animal Services took custody of the dogs and quarantined them for 10 days. According to a bite report, the dogs got loose from a home directly behind Bodine’s at 6161 105th Ave. in Pinellas Park. A tenant at that home said the dogs escaped from beneath the fence and they’ve blocked it with wood to prevent that from happening again. She declined a request for a formal interview.
Senior animal control officer, John Hohenstern, said the owner, Tina Murphy, was able to get her pit-bull and pit-mix back last Friday.
"We can't just hold onto to somebody's property because we want to. We need absolute proof that they did inflict severe injury on a human being,” Hohenstern said. “Unfortunately in this case, we don't have that proof right now."
Bodine said he doesn’t want the dogs back in the neighborhood and didn’t realize he needed to send his medical records to animal services to get the animals declared dangerous.
"This whole system kind of frustrates me,” Bodine said. "If something worse happens it's going to be on her, really."
Pinellas Animal Services said a dangerous dog report on the incident remains open and Murphy was cited for not being current on her dog license and rabies vaccinations.
Bodine said he’s going to watch his back now while pulling weeds.
“It took one thing that I really enjoy doing and now it’s kind nerve racking to be honest,” he said. “I know one thing for sure I’m not going to turn my back to the road anymore. I’m always going to be looking out. I’m going to be nervous.
(Bay News 9 - May 9, 2013)
