Pat Dollard | Young Americans

The OC Register:

Retired Marine regrets having to stab, kill pit bull

Police say man was within his rights to kill dog attacking his wife.

By ERIC CARPENTER

ANAHEIM – A retired Marine stabbed a pit bull to death Tuesday night as the dog attacked his wife and the two dogs they were walking, police said.

The woman, Vicki Perry, 51, suffered wounds to her hands and her husband, Douglas Perry, 58, cut his right hand with the knife while wrestling with the dog. Both their wounds required tetanus shots.

Their two dogs – a Siberian husky and an American Eskimo – suffered injuries in the attack; the American Eskimo underwent surgery at a pet hospital. Both dogs were back home Wednesday afternoon and were expected to survive.

The couple said they were walking their dogs near their home on the 2800 block of West Elmlawn Drive around 5:30 p.m.

“I was waving to a neighbor when I heard my wife scream,” Perry said. “Out of nowhere, this black-and-white pit bull had pounced on her and our Siberian, and they were rolling around in a ball on the ground.”

Vicki Perry said she never saw it coming. She heard a “whoosh” and the next thing she knew she was being dragged into the street holding the leash.

Then she saw the pit bull bite into the throat of her Siberian husky, “Sierra,” 5. She reached to pull it off and the pit bull bit into her hand and Sierra’s neck at the same time.

“I yelled out, ‘It bit off my finger.’ I thought it was a goner,” she said.

Several neighbors who heard the commotion came running to the couple’s aid. They kicked and stomped at the pit bull trying to get it to release its grip, but the dog kept biting Vicki Perry’s hand.

Douglas Perry said he swung his American Eskimo, “Buster,” 8, by the leash to try to get it away from the pit bull. A neighbor shouted to let go of the leash so the dog could run away from the pit bull.

“That was a mistake because the pit ran after it, stepped on the leash and then sunk its teeth into the little dog,” Douglas Perry said.

He ran to a neighbor’s house and asked for a knife. He ran back and stabbed the pit bull in the chest, but it still didn’t let go. The kitchen knife slipped out of his hand and cut into Perry’s right thumb.

He stabbed it a second time and it stopped attacking. It staggered away, collapsed and died in the street, police said.

“It turned out my wife didn’t lose her finger, but her hand was in the dog’s mouth, so she was sure it was gone – it turns out it was just a lot of blood,” Perry said from the hospital Wednesday morning as he and his wife awaited treatment.

Paramedics had treated the Perry’s wounds at the scene on Tuesday night and suggested they go to the hospital.

“But I waived any medical care,” said Vicki Perry, who had eight bite wounds on her hands. “I wanted to be with my dogs and make sure they were taken care of first.”

They took both dogs to a pet hospital Tuesday night. A veterinarian drained the puncture wounds from the neck of the Siberian husky. The American Eskimo suffered numerous puncture wounds to the stomach and the right front and back legs.

Wednesday afternoon, Douglas and Vicki took turns holding Buster, who was still on morphine.

The Perrys said they are “dog people” and they regretted that the pit bull had to die.

“I hated that I had to stab that dog,” Douglas Perry said. “It just wouldn’t let go and I saw no other choice.”

Anaheim police Sgt. Rick Martinez said Perry was within his rights to stab the dog.

“Based on everything we’ve seen and from all witness accounts, the dog was very aggressive and he was acting in self-defense,” Martinez said.

The pit bull’s owner had dropped the dog off at a friend’s house within the last week, Martinez said.

“It had been in a back yard and the people who were watching it didn’t know it had gotten out or that it was aggressive,” Martinez said.

The Perry’s veterinarian bills have already topped $2,100 – money that they’ve had to take from an account intended to fix up their home.

Vicki Perry said she feels lucky the attack wasn’t worse and she is most thankful to the neighbors who jumped in to try to fight off the pit bull. She didn’t know any of them before the attack.

“I really want to thank them for actually getting involved,” she said. “I’m truly not sure if I would have survived if they didn’t help out.”