Woman mauled by pit bull in Northeast Portland

OREGON -- A dog running loose attacked a woman in Northeast Portland almost two weeks ago, leaving her with bruises and bite marks.

The bites were so deep that stitches were needed to close the wounds.

Erica Bestpitch was walking her two rescue Chihuahuas around 5:30 a.m. Thursday, July 2 near Northeast 34th and Liberty when she saw two dogs that looked like pit bulls. She picked up her dogs and started walking away. That’s when one of the dogs attacked.

 

 

Right now no one knows who the dog belongs to and authorities hope someone can help track it down.

Flyers posted in Northeast Portland identify the dog as a charcoal-gray pit bull with white on its chest. It was running loose with a brown pit bull the morning of the attack.

Bestpitch is especially worried because the attack was so violent and unprovoked.

“After it bit me the first couple times, I realized no one’s gonna help me. Like nothing – this dog’s not gonna stop unless I start screaming and neighbors come out,” she said. “So I start screaming and screaming and screaming. ‘Dog attack! Help!’ And whatever else I can get out.”

Neighbors Dale Halvorson and Kathy Anderson happened to be up getting ready for work and taking care of their own dogs when they heard Bestpitch’s scream from their home nearby.

“And I heard a scream,” says Halvorson. “I turned over and looked over my shoulder at the corner here is my neighbor walking her two little Chihuahuas and she's being attacked by a couple of pit bulls.”

Halvorson held their dogs while Anderson grabbed the only weapon nearby – a broom.

“And then I saw her with the pit attached to her arm,” says Anderson. “And so I just started swinging the broom at 'em until it came off of her. And then it came towards me so I'm poking it with the broom again. And then it would look at her and I'd whack it. And then it would come back towards me and I would whack it.”

The dogs ran away as other neighbors arrived.

Multnomah County animal control says its investigation of the attack is now at a dead end with no more leads, unless someone is able to identify the dogs involved and who owns them.

Neighbors say the charcoal and brown pit bulls have been seen running loose through the neighborhood before. They just hope the dogs are found to make sure they're confined before someone else gets attacked.

(KATU - July 14, 2015)