Local

Woman hospitalized after dog attack

ATLANTA — A local woman is in the hospital after two dogs attacked her.
 
The dogs' owners told Channel 2's Carl Willis they jumped an 8-foot fence to get to her. He says he was forced to use a pressure washer to stop the attack.
 
The woman's husband claims an order from animal control may have led to the attack that sent his wife to the hospital.
 
"My wife is laying in the hospital right now, missing a part of her left leg," John Ketchersid told Willis.
 
"It looked like her leg had been through a spiral slicer," Ketchersid said.
 
Ketchersid said his wife saw puppies being attacked next door and tried to step in not knowing that the male, a bulldog, was no longer tied down.
 
He says the dog managed to get out of an 8-foot chain link enclosure and get to his wife, and then a pit bull joined the attack.
 
"She turns around and he is dragging her toward the trailer," Ketchersid said.
 
But it's how the dogs came to be untied last Tuesday that makes Ketchersid angry.
 
He says Fulton County Animal Control was called out and told his neighbors they could no longer have their dogs tethered in the lawn.
 
Deronta Turner is one of the dogs' owners. He said he even offered to give up the animals, but he was instead threatened with a fine.
 
"Because other people's kids are in our backyard, we told them if you take off the chain that might happen," Turner said.
 
"There are two children who live one door away, one doorway from my neighbor, a 7-year-old and a 3-year-old. If either one of those children had been under those dogs, it would've been over," Ketchersid said.
 
Willis called a Fulton County government representative. They are reaching out to the animal services officers who responded to the home on Westmont Road in southwest Atlanta.
 
In the meantime, Turner said the attack only stopped after he sprayed the dogs with water.
 
"What if the lady would've died? That would've been on us," Turner said.
 
"This business of telling someone to untether a dog that they know is capable of destroying human life is crap," Ketchersid said.
 
Willis will continue to work to get information on the incident from animal services. They are still monitoring the dogs.