At first glance, you might think 66-year-old Bob Hedges somehow survived a beating by a gang of thugs swinging chains.
But Hedges' attackers were a pack of aggressive dogs he'd never seen in his neighborhood before.
"I've never had anything like this happen to me in my life," said Hedges, who was heavily bandaged. "Neither man nor beast has ever torn me down like this."
On Tuesday night, Hedges was confronted by three dogs while walking near his White Center home. "I heard the growls, turned around and there they were, snapping at me," said Hedges, squinting through swollen, wounded eyes. I grabbed my knife. I knew there was going to be a battle."
Hedges says the three dogs, an American Terrier and two Pit Bulls, bit him on the arms and legs and one of them pulled him backwards. They viciously tore skin away from his face and neck. He was bleeding badly.
"I kept fighting with my knife," Hedges said. "I was trained in Vietnam. Never give up, fight for your life. I cut and slashed the most aggressive dog, and it bled out before I did," Hedges said.
Hedges' friend Tom Pompeo grabbed a hammer and slammed it into the head of one of the attacking dogs. "I hit that thing with everything I own," Pompeo said. It just made him madder he kept coming," he said.
Hedges now has more stitches than he can count, along with several open wounds which will be stitched shut when his swelling subsides. Hedges says he has a forgiving heart and will not hold a personal grudge against the dogs' owner.
"I can't be angry, life is too short for that," he said." But if you have a weapon, a gun something that can hurt someone, you take care of it you lock it up. I think the law should force the same for anyone with dangerous animals."
Investigators say the dog Hedges cut with his knife was bleeding profusely and had to be euthanized.
The two remaining dogs were tracked from their bloody footprints. They are in custody of King County Animal control.
Investigators suggest the dogs' owner will not likely be charged, because the dogs dug their way out of a secure, locked pen. The two remaining dogs could be euthanized, or ordered out of the county, investigators say.
(KIRO - July 12, 2013)
