Name: TW
Victim: Adult
Location: Neighbor’s Driveway, North Carolina
Year of attack: 2022

Tell us about the attack

I was attacked by my neighbor’s pit bull with no prior warning or known reason. Before the attack, I had even petted the pit bull occasionally over the past year and my neighbor kept insisting that it loved me.

On Monday evening, my neighbor was talking with me.  She opened her screen door, inviting her American pit bull to come outside of her house to say hello.  The pit bull charged out of the house at me and clamped down on my left forearm.

She was yelling at her pit bull, but it kept biting for a few minutes until she finally managed to leash it and get it off me.

At that point, she wanted to bring the pit bull back towards me, and despite blood oozing out of multiple puncture wounds in my arm, she tried to insist that I pet the pit bull and show it that I was its friend. I refused and asked her to keep it away from me.

How has your life changed as a result of the attack?
Since the attack I have had heightened fears and anxiety that the pit bull may be waiting to charge at me whenever I leave my house or get out of my car.

Legal Consequences
I had the wounds checked by my primary care doctor, and the doctor insisted that I report the incident.

When I did, the police simply told the owner to quarantine her pit bull at home for 10 days.

What would you like people to know as a result of your attack?
I no longer believe any pit bull owner that says, “my pit bull would never hurt anyone who is kind to it.” Despite close to a year of kind affection from me, my neighbor’s pit bull still decided to turn my arm into its chew toy.