A wheelchair-bound grandmother is lucky to be alive after a vicious dog yanked her from her chair in a horrifying attack witnessed by her granddaughter, who said: “We thought it was going to eat her.”
Maria Torro, 80, was walking with her family just before 11 a.m. on September 21 in Coconut Creek, Florida, when a 145-pound pit bull mix lunged at her, knocking her to the ground before repeatedly biting her.
“I was panicking. I was hysterical. I literally cried and we called 911 right away,” Torro’s granddaughter, Diana Atehortua, told Local10.
Torro, speaking in Spanish to the news station, said she was “very lucky” to be alive.
Atehortua watched in horror as the dog, which had been tied to a tree, became startled by Torro’s wheelchair and broke free. A second dog had also been tied up but was not involved in the attack, according to a police report obtained by TapInto.
“She’s really scared. She doesn’t want to go out anymore,” Atehortua said of her grandmother. “We thought it was going to eat her.”
Torro’s family said they feared the worst before the dog’s owner yanked the animal away. The owner described it as an accident and told police he tried to pull his pet away as quickly as possible, according to the report.
Before the owner stepped in, Torro’s family said they tried wrapping a towel around the dog’s head to keep it from attacking her. Despite their efforts, Torro still ended up covered in deep and painful bite marks and scratches.
The 80-year-old was bleeding from her right wrist and hip, an injury that was worsened because she had recently undergone hip surgery, according to the police report.
She was treated at a hospital for several bite wounds.
The Broward County Animal Services is investigating the incident. Coconut Creek police did not immediately return The Independent’s request for comment.
Authorities said the dog was a two-and-a-half-year-old pit bull mix that weighs about 145 pounds and is up to date on all of its vaccinations.
The dog involved in the attack has since been quarantined at home, and its owner has been cited.
