Yuma man saves daughter from vicious dog attack
Manoah Tuiasosopo
YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA, KECY) – A local father saved his seven-year-old daughter from a dog attack while walking her to school.
He spoke with reporter Manoah Tuiasosopo and takes us through this terrifying experience.
David Fleck says, “When that dog came at her up on its feet and opened his mouth, her whole head would’ve went in his mouth.”
It was a usual Monday morning at a quiet RV park in the Foothills when neighbors woke up to the sound of gunshots.
Fleck says it was frightening and close call, sharing, “You got to understand, this all happened in a matter of, what, 3-4 seconds.”
Fleck was walking his daughter to her bus stop when from around the bushes came a ravaging pit bull.
“That dog lunged up, I’m not going to shoot my gun into the air, so I kicked it as hard as I could, and I was wearing my boots,” Fleck shared.
Fleck says the animal just finished killing a neighborhood cat and was on a rampage.
He fired a warning shot into the ground but says that only invigorated the dog.
“You see that hole right there? That’s where I took the next shot. The dog moved; I just grazed it. I was trying to get its heart; I didn’t want it to suffer. The kill shot, the third shot, was right here. It went into the dog; the dog gave up. It went over there under that van and died,” Fleck explains.
Following the incident, the Yuma County Sheriff’s Office (YCSO) and Animal Control ruled the killing as a justified act of self defense and defense of another.
Fleck reiterated “This little girl means everything to me.”
An unofficial watchman of the neighborhood, Fleck’s says he’s sorry he had to do it, but would do the same if the child were someone else’s.
He says this all happened the day before he finalized the adoption of his little girl.
“I would’ve done it for, not just my daughter, but their daughter, and their son. I’m a foster parent. I almost lost her the day before I adopted her. That was scary.”
The owner of the dog is still unknown.
If you any information, please reach out to YCSO.