Pack of five dogs attacks couple on Near East Side

OHIO -- A husband and wife were injured late yesterday afternoon when they were attacked by a pack of dogs in their Near East Side neighborhood.

Columbus police swarmed Lilley Avenue and E. Rich Street after a neighbor frantically called 911 to report that as many as five dogs were attacking the couple. Two officers shot and killed two dogs that appeared to be pit bull terriers, said Sgt. Dan Hargus.

Claude Holloway, 62, and his wife, Deborah A. Holloway, 57, were taken to Ohio State University Hospital East. Late last night, a hospital spokeswoman said both had been released after treatment.

Linda Gray, who lives across the street, said five dogs in the front yard of 1592 E. Rich St. began fighting about 4:30 p.m. yesterday.

Gray, 40, said she came out onto her front porch when she heard an 11-year-old girl at that house screaming, “Stop! stop!”

Gray said the girl was trying to break up a fight involving the dogs. Gray yelled for the girl to stay back from the dogs.

The dogs then spilled through the fence when the gate popped open, Gray said. That’s when the Holloways, who live on Tiffin Street, were walking along Lilley Avenue.

The dogs, “agitated and going crazy,” charged the couple, first attacking Mrs. Holloway, then her husband, Gray said.

Gray ran for her phone.

“I called the police and said, ‘The dogs are attacking people!’ I ain’t never seen anything like it before.”

An officer shot one of the dogs with a pistol, and another officer shot another dog with a shotgun, Hargus said.

Gray said it appeared that those two dogs were pit bulls, but she said the other three dogs were other breeds.

An enforcement officer with the Franklin County Department of Animal Care and Control said the dogs’ owner will be charged with violating the state law that regulates the containment of vicious dogs.

(Columbus Dispatch - Sept 14, 2013)