WASHINGTON -- UPS driver Kevin Backlund fought back tears in court Thursday as he recounted being attacked by four pit bulls in September near Puyallup.
The attack left Backlund with more than 100 stitches.
During a court hearing Thursday, the dogs' owner, Jason Owens, tried to get his dogs back.
Owens, through his attorney, claimed the sender of the package was supposed to warn UPS about the dogs on the property. But that didn't get through.
When Backlund was delivering a package Sept. 13 north of Orting, he said he was attacked by the pack of dogs.
"I observed a pack of pit bulls that had taken positions around me that approached me, obviously in silence," Backlund said. "And then the fight was on."
Backlund said there was no 'beware of dogs' warning on the property and no warning on his UPS driver alerts.
On that day, he said the dogs had the upper hand.
"They were biting and tearing flesh from my body," Backlund said. He said he sought refuge on a utility trailer, but the dogs wouldn't let go.
Backlund called out to a woman standing outside the gate. "And she was yelling at me for trespassing stating I deserved to die and that she was going to shoot me," Backlund said.
He managed to call 911.
Orting Valley Fire & Rescue Lieutenant Steve Goodwin responded to the 911 call and said he crashed the gate to the property with his fire rig so Backlund could jump through the open passenger side window.
"If they got him on the ground I did not think he was going to survive," Goodwin testified in court on Thursday.
Evidence of the emotional and physical toll continued during court as Backlund recounted that he's a former Nevada state patrol trooper.
"I went through the longest academy in the country, the Nevada Highway Patrol. So I can take quite a bit. But the people you love and you hurt them. I don't have the resistance for that," he said.
The hearing officer will decide in two weeks if the dogs will be determined to be listed as dangerous and possibly be returned to the owner with strict guidelines.
There's still the chance the owner will face criminal prosecution in which case the dogs might face being put to sleep. And at that point they also might pin down who was to blame for not alerting UPS.
WASHINGTON -- Newly released evidence photos and an investigation report detail a vicious dog attack on a United Parcel Service driver last month.
Investigators have handed the case over to the Pierce County Prosecutor's Office, which is now considering felony dog bite charges.
On September 13, Orting Valley firefighters and Pierce County Animal Control arrived at a gated property on 116th Street East near Puyallup.
It is a business that works on FedEx delivery trucks.
But the victim, in this case, works for UPS. Kevin Backlund, a UPS driver, entered the yard to deliver a package, and four pit bulls attacked him.
In a radio dispatch recording, a dispatcher said, "He's a UPS driver and he's been attacked by five pit bulls that are still currently outside. He's locked outside of a trailer on the property."
Backlund jumped on the back of a flatbed trailer to try to get away from the dogs.
"I saw the man up on the trailer," said neighbor Brittney Soderland. "I didn't know what to do. I wasn't going to go in there."
Soderland said she saw blood on the driver's arms and legs. The photos of the scene hint at how bad his injuries were. They show blood stains on various pieces of equipment in the yard, including two blood-stained boots.
The incident report from Orting Valley Fire and Rescue said: "The driver was covered in blood, on top of a small trailer (4' off the ground) and had 1 of the pit bulls latched on his leg."
According to the report, an unidentified woman standing outside the gate told the firefighters, "The driver was trespassing and kicked one of my dogs. They are going to kill him."
"[She claimed she] Didn't want [UPS] on the property, didn't allow them on the property," said Chief Zane Gibson of Orting Valley Fire and Rescue.
Gibson said when the woman refused to open the gate, the responders had no other choice but to ram it.
"The battalion chief observed him, feared for his life. That's why he made the decision to ram the gate and get him out," said Gibson.
Backlund, a 59-year-old former Nevada Highway Patrol trooper, suffered deep bites to both legs, tearing into the muscle and down to the bone in the left leg. His attorney said he just had 132 stitches removed.
Animal control officers retrieved both boots from the property, which the dogs had pulled off.
They took a photo of a small "Beware of Dog" sticker, about the size of a hand, stuck to a pole on the fence.
An investigator asked the UPS manager "If there were any instruction in their database not to enter the property and he stated there was not."
When KING 5 went to the property, we found a dented gate and a small bright "Psycho Dog Zone" sign inside the fence.
The men who were working at the business referred us to an attorney, Mike Stewart, who declined to comment on the case until their investigation was finished.
As for the woman who refused to let paramedics gain access to the yard, we learned she's not associated with that property at all.
"She definitely doesn't live there. She lives down the road," said Soderland. "She kept saying my dogs, my dogs, but they definitely weren't her dogs."
Backlund is still on antibiotics and pain-killers and goes to a clinic to have his wounds cleaned every other day.
He released a statement through his attorney Chris Davis:
“On behalf of myself and my family, we want to express our deepest gratitude to Orting Valley Fire Department Chief Steve Goodwin for his immediate assessment and courageous actions that we believe saved my life.
"The two Orting Valley Fire Department Paramedics that stabilized me in the medic car en-route to Puyallup Good Samaritan Hospital. To Dr. Gates and his surgical team for the outstanding care that I received.
"Lastly, but not least, we are grateful for the outpouring of support and prayer from our church family and the entire faith community.”
As vicious as the attack was, Stewart said there is much more to be learned about the case, and they are appealing the "dangerous dog" status.
If the appeal is unsuccessful, the dogs will be destroyed.
WASHINGTON -- A UPS driver used his belt to fight off four angry pit bulls that attacked him while delivering a package to a home, according to police in Washington.
The Pierce County Sheriff’s Office said that on Wednesday, at around 11:00 a.m., the UPS driver called 911 to report that he was being attacked by multiple pit bulls, and was bleeding badly.
The attack happened as the driver was making his delivery to a residence in the 15500 block of 116th Street E. in the Puyallup area.
When Orting Valley Fire and Rescue arrived on the scene, the driver was reportedly cornered by the dogs up against a trailer on the property that was located approximately 75 feet inside a locked gate.
A relative of the dog’s owner was at the location, but refused to unlock the gate, so the fire department rammed the driveway gate, drove to the victim and pulled him into their vehicle.
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A fire chief said he had to take matters into his own hands when a UPS driver was attacked by pit bulls.
Orting Valley Fire and Rescue Battalion Chief Steve Goodwin said he rammed a gate when someone at the house refused to open it.
The rolling chain-link gate in question is back upright now after the Fire Department crashed through it Wednesday. Pierce county animal control said 911 received a frantic call from a UPS driver that he was being mauled by four pit bulls. He said he was injured and seeking refuge atop a 4-foot trailer.
"I was pretty scared that he was going to get pulled off of the trailer," said Goodwin who was first on the scene. "He had a dog that was latched on pretty well."
But the big gate and someone at the property stood in his way.
He said, "I repeatedly asked the person at the gate if they would open the gate. They would not comply with what I requested and looked up again and decided it was time to go get him."
Goodwin took a Fire Department SUV and smashed through the gate and drove up to the UPS driver allowing him to slide through the open passenger window to safety.
He can't fathom why someone would try to stop him. "Never been turned down from someone when I'm attempting to help somebody."
"I honestly think that's kind of ridiculous," said neighbor Ariel Atkins. "Because he needed help. If he was up on a trailer trying to get away from these dogs, he needed some help."
The Pierce County Sheriff's Office and county animal control are taking a hard look at the case. Brian Boman, animal control supervisor, "If somebody is in the process of actually being attacked by animals and they're refusing aid and allowing us to intervene, that's one of those that's almost 'obstruction.' "
We are hearing from people who say they know the owner of the dogs. They claim the UPS driver should never have gone into the heavily fenced yard. They say there are 'beware of dog' signs, though KOMO News didn't see any. That doesn't answer the question of why the rescuers weren't let in.
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The victim was transported to a hospital for treatment.
The victim suffered multiple bite wounds, including punctures and lacerations on his hands, arms, and legs.
Investigators recovered his boots and belt from the scene.
His boots were reportedly pulled off by the dogs during the attack, and he had attempted to use his belt to defend himself from the dogs.
Pierce County Animal Control officers and Sheriff’s deputies responded to the incident.
Animal Control contacted the owner of the pit bulls and impounded his four dogs for a required 10 day quarantine at the Tacoma Humane Society. The dogs are being held in quarantine while it's decided if the owner will get them back considering the fact they were in a fenced yard - on their own property - when they attacked.
