Posted on 04/19/2009 8:15:39 PM PDT by Chet 99
Pit bull dragged victim 'like a rag doll'
By Alan Burke
Staff writer
DANVERS — While it was happening, Cassandra Osgood, 23, thought she was going to die.
The pit bull that attacked her on Thursday, April 9, at a Peabody mobile home inflicted more than 50 wounds, even biting to the bone, tearing away skin, muscle and fat. At one point, the savage attack left her to shelter alone behind a glass door, lying in a pool of her own blood while the dog scratched at the glass trying to get at her.
Even so, Osgood said, "I feel bad for everyone in the situation." That includes the dog's owner, Brian Stevens, 27; the dog's other victims, like Sarah Malave, 24, and even Bronson, the dog himself. "He's practically on death row. ... I'm an animal lover."
The attack followed a moment of high spirits, she said, where Osgood momentarily wrestled with Malave. The two women fell back on the couch, Osgood said, when the dog sprang, perhaps meaning to protect Jamie Brickman, 27, girlfriend of the absent Stevens.
Before that, there was no warning.
"The dog was happy," Osgood said. "It was wagging its tail."
It had been the same on previous visits. "I never saw any aggression. But he's a pit bull. Pit bulls can snap at the drop of a dime."
The other two women in the room tried frantically to stop the attack, with Brickman also sustaining injuries.
"They threw water on him. ... They tried putting a wire on him to pull him off me." The assault continued. "The length of time he was biting me felt like forever. ... He bit through my sneaker." He tore at her arm, opening her flesh to the bone.
"He dragged me around the house like a rag doll."
When, for some reason, the attack stopped, Malave urged Osgood, "Run! Into the other room!" The pair fled, but the door couldn't be secured, Osgood said, and the dog began slamming against it. Malave couldn't hold it shut, and the animal finally forced his way in.
"He jumped on her," Osgood said. "But there was nothing I could do." She staggered to another room, a computer station with a sliding glass door, and she lay there holding the door shut with her foot. Before long, the pit bull was at the glass, relentless, like some creature from a horror movie, trying to force his way in, she said.
"He was jumping up on the door," Osgood said. "I could hear them outside going, 'Cassandra is still in there!' ... It was so long to get me out."
Police had arrived by then. Patrolman William Swaczyk had rescued Malave — with help from Patrolmen Mark Bettencourt, Tony Santos, Leo Cunha and Lt. John McCorry. In the process, Swaczyk was attacked by the dog, who locked his jaws on the officer's arm.
With the dog still roaming the home, rescuers had to take Osgood out through a small window. "I was screaming," she said, remembering the pain. "I was thinking of my baby." Her son, Joshua, is 11 months old. "I was thinking, 'What if my son had been there?' Thank God my son was not with me. If he was with me ... it's a fact if that dog had got hold of a baby that baby would not survive."
Another bit of good luck, the attack spared her face. She theorizes that her arms fared so poorly because she was protecting her face.
Paramedics urged, "Stay with us, Cassandra. Stay with us." She watched them push the muscle and flesh back into her arm before sewing it up to protect against infection. She thought she might lose it.
When she was airlifted to Massachusetts General Hospital, the staff cut her clothes off her. Doctors told boyfriend Kurt Mason that he might not want to see her given the extent of her wounds. "I can handle it," he said.
Returning home on Tuesday, she's on a strong regimen of painkillers. She's lost some feeling in her foot and hopes the doctors are right that it will return.
"When I got home and looked in the mirror, looking in a full-body mirror, that's when it hit me. ... I'm going to need plastic surgery." She mused quietly that she would have to approach the upcoming summer season with emphasis on short sleeves carefully. "It's very hard to look at myself. ... The scars I'm going to have are terrible."
Bandaged now, she said, "I look like a mummy."
Yet, that's only a minor concern. "The important thing is not being able to pick up my son."
The fate of the animal remains in doubt. Borash Veterinary Clinic in Peabody, where Bronson is currently kenneled, declined to comment. Animal Control Officer Lilian Pinto also declined to comment.
Police Capt. Dennis Bonaiuto said he was unclear on the procedure for dealing with a dog that's attacked a person, and no hearing has been scheduled.
"There are ongoing talks with the owner's attorney," he said. "We're working through the process."
An only child, Osgood's father disappeared long ago and she is relying on her mother along with Mason — "He has to do everything." — and Mass Health — "A nurse comes every other day." She had been due to start a new job at Zales the day before the attack. A lawyer friend has offered help, but Osgood isn't certain what the lawyer can do about this.
"I'm a strong woman," she said. "I'm a little too brave. I don't fear things." She pauses. "It's going to be different for me now."
Kinda like being addicted a drug isn’t it.
“pit bulls can snap at the drop of a dime”. I admit I know nothing about these dogs other than what I read, but do they really go off just like that? I guess I just don’t get why so many own this breed if they are so rowdy. there has to be something there for the owners to select a pit bull type as their pet. oh well.
Practically? Kill the beast, send off tissue for Rabies testing. Be done with it (and lets not forget the dog's owner who bears a large piece of responsibility).
It’s common knowledge that most pit bull owners are addicted to drugs.
A lot of them do “go off just like that”. Other kinds of dogs can do that too, but the pits seem to have a bit more of that tendency, and their incredibly powerful jaws result in much more severe damage than most other breeds are capable of inflicting.
Why is the dog still alive? Do officers there not carry firearms? Or a good old-fashioned billy club with full-force to the skull...
LOL... thats a keeper
What is to be expected? A dog bred SPECIFICALLY to kill in the fighting arena - bred with thick and powerful jaws - and with a killer inborn instinct to kill...
And then people act surprised when their little “Fi-Fi” Pit Bull mauls or kills someone “without warning”.
Let me just go get a .357 revolver, load only one round, then spin the cylinder and aim it at someone at random and pull the trigger. I might get away with this for a lifetime... or I might get a “surprise” and blow away a person’s body part or their life.
Some Pits remain sweet and loving their entire lives. Unfortunately, this gives people a false sense of security (that they frequently throw in people’s faces). And then something like this happens.
No dog is “perfect”. Even some otherwise awesome “family” dog breeds have a bad apple every so often (nearly always a case of seriously bad breeding or horrible mistreatment). But I go back to my original statement in this post - start off with a loaded weapon...
Because officers of the court are making money from it, of course.
Lawyer defends ‘dangerous’ pit bull that attacked four
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2233133/posts
You are right. Dogs are dogs and I am thankful that when one of mine bit me he was a Belgian Sheepdog with a slender snout. I still ended up with 300 stitches to the face. Not pleasant.
10 years later my scars are pretty insignificant. I thank God an excellent plastic surgeon was on call that night.
Word of caution: If you have an elderly dog, don’t bend over to pet him goodnight. Let sleeping dogs lie.
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN:
DO YOU HATE PIT BULLS? DO YOU HAVE TROUBLE IDENTIFYING THEM FROM OTHER SIMILAR LOOKING BREEDS, AND THINK, WELL, THEY’RE ALL THE SAME ANYWAY? DO YOU THINK PEOPLE WHO OWN PIT BULLS ARE ALL DRUG ADDICTS OR INTO FIGHTING DOGS?
WELL THEN, WE’VE GOT A WEBSITE FOR YOU, DOMINATED BY A MONOMANIACAL POSTER WHO WILL SCOUR THE INTERNET FOR YOU DAILY TO FIND ANY ARTICLE ABOUT ANY DOG REMOTELY RESEMBLING A PIT BULL AND POST IT HERE FOR YOU TO GLOAT OVER!
YES, FOLKS OUR VERY OWN CHET99, THE BANE OF THE PIT BULL BREED, EVEN THOUGH HE COULDN’T PICK ONE OUT OF A PACK OF BOXERS, MASTIFFS, PRESAS, BULLDOGS, OR HOUNDS. CHET WILL FIND ANY DOG BITE INCIDENT, NATIONAL OR INTERNATIONAL, AND POST IT WITH ALL THE SPECULATION, FANTASIZING, AND PRESS ACCCURACY HE FEELS IT DESERVES.
DO YOU WANT ALL MEAN LOOKING DOGS KILLED? DO YOU WANT ALL THEIR OWNERS SUED AND JAILED?
THEN FREE REPUBLIC IS THE PLACE FOR YOU! STEP RIGHT UP AND BE COUNTED. YOU KNOW NO OTHER DOGS BITE—AND NO OTHER DOGS KILL. IT’S THOSE DAMN PIT BULLS, AND TOGETHER, WITH CHET99 AND ALL HIS BUDDIES HERE AT FREE REPUBLIC,
WE CAN MAKE THIS A COUNTRY WHERE YOU CAN’T OWN A DOG IF CHET99 THINKS IT MIGHT BE DANGEROUS!
AND AMERICANS WILL BE SAFE ONCE AGAIN.
/extreme dripping sarcasm
Its common knowledge that people with an inordinate fear of pit bulls have become addicted to their Metamucil.
I had a run in with a pitbull recently, she was a small female about 40 lbs!
She had a death grip on a small mix bred puppy and was intent on killing it!
The only thing I could think of to do was stick my hand down this bitches throat which is what caused it to release!
If you find a person in this same predicament, ram your hand down the beasts throat!
I love pit bulls and I’ve been around them in a kennel setting. They do become very protective of their territory and it’s quite possible that what set off the protecting-mode was the rough housing.
Anyone who knew dogs would know to put the dog in another room before doing anything that could make the dog think someone is threatened.
Even my own collie/lab/golden retriever mix has moved protectively between me and a friend who was about to give me a hug. My Cocker would lunge at anyone who tried to hug me or even raise an arm in my direction.
So does that make every Cocker Spaniel a killer-dog?
Oh for the love of God, are you honestly comparing a Cocker Spaniel lunging to this pit bull going into full Cujo mode and shredding this woman,and ignoring all attempts by 3 others to get it to stop, and then bust down the door after the woman retreated there in terror? that isn’t “protection”.
This was a bad situation just waiting to happen. I mean, all the elements were there- multiple unwed mothers, boyfriend instead of husband, trailer park and pitbull.
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