Martin Haygood walks his 2-year-old treasure, Toodles, Tuesday afternoon. You’d never know anything happened to this duo by looking at them, but that morning they were attacked by two pit bulls.
He only wants to go by David, but a neighbor says he had an earlier run-in with the same dogs at his home.
Concerned, he left with his shotgun, only to find Martin and Toodles in trouble, the pit bulls between them and their house.
“I said, ‘I don’t know if you can make it home.’ Well, he got about halfway across the road and that’s when they jumped him," David said. "That’s when I went back to my truck and retrieved my gun and I shot in the air sort of over that way.”
Haygood said the shots stunned the dogs, and he took full advantage.
"I hot-footed it across the lawns to my house, opened up the door and went in and stayed in," Haygood said.
Deputies said the dogs went on to attack a number of people in the area this morning, sending some road workers home with minor injuries.
Deputies responded to the scene and say they were forced to shoot and kill the pit bulls.
“When the [deputy] got out of his car, luckily he had taken his gun," said resident Cathy Anderson, who says her husband was also attacked. "The dogs turned and just charged [the deputy], so it was just like they were just on a mission to attack.”
FOX10 News asked Haygood if he thinks David saved his life.
"If they were as strong as they could be, and if they had a history of it, definitely," Haygood said. "Absolutely, no doubt about it.”
David said he just reacted the way anyone would.
“I was just worried about the man, and I know how many elderly people we have in this sub-division, and I just came out here in concern, that’s all it was," David said.
Escambia County Animal Control is investigating the incident. Officials said they don’t know owns the dogs.
Those injured road workers were treated and released from the hospital Tuesday.
(fox10 - July 30, 2013)
