Man suing neighbor after mauling by pack of dogs leaves him ‘fighting for his life’
By Lisa Crane
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CENTREVILLE, Alabama (WVTM) — The number of deadly dog attacks continues to climb in central Alabama. The most recent fatal incident happened last week in Blount County. That brings the number of deadly attacks in our viewing area to five this year. These are the ones we know of, and that number only gets bigger if you add in the dog attacks that weren’t fatal.
We start in February: That’s when a woman was killed by dogs in Tuscaloosa County. The Tuscaloosa County Violent Crimes Unit reported the woman was at a home on Boyd Road in the Echola community when she was attacked and killed. She was in the yard to feed the dogs while the owners were out of town.
Then, in March, a baby was killed in Alabaster. The baby was staying with a grandparent when their pet attacked.
In July, a pack of dogs fatally attacked a 7-year-old boy in Chilton County. The child’s grandmother was also attacked, but she survived. That same month in Bessemer, Delores Musgrove was found dead in an empty lot. The coroner said she was killed by a pack of dogs. And, just another deadly attack claimed the life of a Blount County woman.
Now, an elderly victim of a dog attack who is fighting for his life is suing the owner of the dogs that almost killed him.
A routine walk for 81-year-old Jamie Boyd turned into a nightmare. As he was walking down his gravel driveway last week to check his mail, seven dogs reportedly came through the trees from his neighbors’ house and attacked. Brent’s police chief arrived and fired a shot to get the dogs to leave. Chief Karl McMillian said, “I have seen a lot of dog attacks, but none that extensive.”
The victim’s attorney, North Patterson, called his injuries catastrophic.
“His scalp has been ripped from his head. He has gruesome injuries down his arms, down his legs. He’s lost 50% of his muscle tissue on his body,” he said. “He has a long road to recovery right now. He’s hanging in there and he’s fighting for his life.”
Boyd’s wife reportedly watched the gruesome mauling and tried to get to him to help. McMillian said, “At that moment, the wife fell, and I immediately saw one of the dogs, the brown and white pit, come down the hill. So, fired or shot it.”
Patterson added, “She’s shaken up tremendously. I mean, as you can imagine, she sees her husband, you know, being mauled by a pack of dogs. And so, she has severe emotional trauma. She has the injuries of her own. It’s a rough time for the family.”
The seven dogs are now at Bibb County Animal Control. There’s no word on what will happen to them, but we’re told they’re on a 10-day rabies hold. The Boyds are suing their neighbor, the dogs’ owners, for failing to contain their dogs. We were not able to reach them for comment.
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