“I just started running again about a month ago (after an injury) and I’ve been using the cemetery track because I feel it’s the safest place to run, and also, when my hip starts hurting, it’s closer to get to the house,” said Sanchez, who lives on South Mesa Road. “That day, I had actually gone a little bit farther; I went around Terrace Grove (cemetery on Aragon Road) and down by Jaramillo (Community) School and ran a mile here at the cemetery.”
Sanchez, who has run in various events, including the New York and Boston marathons, said that, after her four to five laps around the cemetery, she noticed a friend’s father, Mike Torres, was walking around the cemetery. After passing him and reaching the east end of the cemetery, Sanchez saw the pack of five dogs, which she describes as German shepherd and pit bull mixes.
“They just came at me,” she said of the Oct. 7 attack that happened around 11:30 a.m. “I firmly told them, ‘No!’ and to go home, but they just weren’t having it. One of them just gritted his teeth and came at me. I tried kicking him off and that was a mistake, because they just all started swarming.”
Sanchez said the more aggressive she became – hitting, kicking and pushing them off – the more aggressive the dogs became and bit her even more. When she started bleeding, they became even more vicious.
“It was like a feeding frenzy,” Sanchez said. “When Mr. Torres came around the corner, he came bolting as fast as he could.”
During the attack, Sanchez had found a white, metal pipe and started beating one of dogs about the same time Torres was approaching. It was only then that the dogs took off toward the church.
“When it first happened, I thought I might be able to get them off of me, because this isn’t the first time I’ve been bitten by a dog. I was bitten about two years ago on Mesa Road,” she said. “Three had come at me and one bit me, and I was able to get him off, so I thought it was just a matter of me just being firm and trying to get them off.
“But when it got to the point where they were all biting me and hanging on, I thought if I didn’t do something quick, they’ll have me down to the ground and then I didn’t know what would happen,” Sanchez said. “I kept fighting; I did panic toward the end, because I couldn’t get them off and no one was coming. I kept screaming for help.”
Sanchez said she thinks that if it weren’t for Torres, her injuries would be a lot worse or she wouldn’t be here to tell her story.
“Mr. Torres saved my life,” she said. “When he got to me, he got me over to a wooden (stump) and he helped me get my leg up, and the two (nearby) groundskeepers came over and someone called 911.”
Torres told the News-Bulletin that he was in the southwest area of the cemetery “and I heard some terrible screaming.”
“I couldn’t see who it was because of the trees,” he said. “When I got across to the other side, I took off running, but by the time I got there, the dogs were already taking off.”
Torres said he stayed with Sanchez, talking and praying with her, elevating her leg until the ambulance arrived.
Sanchez was taken by ambulance to Presbyterian Hospital in Albuquerque, where she was treated for multiple puncture wounds to both legs, from her ankles to below her buttocks. Because they were deep puncture wounds and infection was a risk, the doctors couldn’t stitch them.
“My husband, Gerald, had to take two days off from work, because we have to keep changing the dressings,” she said.
Belen Police Chief Dan Robb said the city’s animal control officer identified where the dogs live and their owner. The animals were seized after a warrant was issued by a judge.
The police chief said the owner of the dogs is 50-year-old Mel Gallegos, who lives in the 1100 block of West Chavez Avenue, about a block from the cemetery. Charges, including having a vicious animal, biting of a person, restraint of an animal, running at large, no dog license and no rabies vaccination, were filed against Gallegos, who will be summoned to Belen Municipal Court.
“If anything good comes out of this, maybe dog owners will realize that it is a serious problem and they really need to work on getting their pets contained,” Sanchez said. “I love dogs; we have dogs, too. I don’t want them to be put down, I just want the owners to do something with them.”
(ABQ Journal - Oct 18, 2015)
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