By HEATHER RUPPE
An elderly Walterboro woman nearly had her arm ripped off and had to be resuscitated at the scene after a dog attack that happened on her own lawn.
The 71-year-old Walterboro woman was attacked by at least one pit bull while in the backyard of her Rivers Street house. She was found unconscious on Saturday, Nov. 13th, with one arm nearly amputated from the attack. A deputy with the Colleton County Sheriff’s Office was on scene, controlling the bleeding when firefighter-paramedics arrived on scene. We “began treating the woman in the yard and placed the CARE Flight helicopter on standby,” said Barry McRoy, director of Colleton County Fire-Rescue. The local fire-rescue team helped to land the medical helicopter at Colleton Medical Center.
The woman was transported by ambulance from her home to the hospital’s flight pad.
“She stopped breathing shortly after arriving at the helipad, but fire-rescue crews and the flight crew were able to restore her respirations before she was placed in the helicopter,” said McRoy.
The woman was flown to the Trident Medical Center trauma center in North Charleston.
According to reports, a teenage boy at the scene helped to save the woman’s life by beating the dog off of the woman during the attack.
According to a Walterboro Police Department incident report, the woman was found face down with “severe lacerations.” The dog is a pit bull that was a family pet.
“We don’t know the details,” said Laura Clark, director of Colleton County Animal Services. “There are no witnesses to what happened,” and Clark said the victim has been unable to speak about what happened.
According to Clark, the dog is owned by the victim’s son, who relinquished the dog to animal control on Tuesday. The dog will be tested for rabies and destroyed, said Clark.
“Unpredictable behavior like that needs to be taken seriously,” she said, speaking about the dog. The dog had no history of assaults against people, said Clark, but the dog was aggressive toward other dogs.
“We certainly credit the quick response from the sheriff’s office and our medical response officials with saving this woman’s life,” she said.
This incident is under investigation by the Walterboro Police Department and by the Colleton County Animal Services division.
