CLEVELAND — The victim of a vicious dog attack in Cleveland’s Slavic Village neighborhood are speaking out in hopes of getting the dogs off of the streets.
Angely Negron spoke to News 5 from her MetroHealth hospital room. She and her 75-year old grandmother, Nieves Gonzales, have been there since the attack on Tuesday evening.
Around 8:00 p.m., Tuesday, Negron and a friend were picking up her daughters from her grandmother’s house on Meade Avenue.
They noticed a pack of about 6 dogs in the distance but didn’t think much of it.
But when her 14-year old daughter walked out of the home and Negron began clearing out the backseat, Negron saw the dogs running at her, full force. She said pushed her daughter into the car.
“I thought that I was going to be able to get myself in the car, too, and close the door but it didn't happen like that. My legs are still out of the car and as my legs are out of the car the other dogs started biting,” she said.
Her daughter managed to get out of the other side of the car and run inside to help. Thalia Henriquez, Negron’s cousin, said all she heard was screaming.
“She ran into the house yelling ‘dogs are attacking my mom, dogs are attacking my mom,’” said Henriquez.
Gonzales, their grandmother, took a pot of hot water from the kitchen and threw it on the dogs but Henriquez said that’s when they turned their attention to her. She said her grandma fell trying to get back to the house and the dogs locked down on their grandma’s leg, her upper body was inside the house and her lower body was outside of it.
“They just latched on and they was not letting go,” said Henriquez. “The other dog was struggling to go towards my grandmother’s neck and it was actually dragging her off the little porch she had.”
Negron said she didn’t know her grandmother was being attacked and kept asking her friend in the car to drive her to a hospital.
“I'm losing too much blood. I could feel myself like going in and out, like I'm coming in but I'm going out and my friend says, ‘We'll take you to the hospital. I just have to get the dogs away from biting your grandma,’” said Negron.
They said that friend then hit the dogs with her car several times, forcing the dogs to let go of their grandmother’s legs.
“She was just dead weight at that moment because she couldn't walk and I was just pulling her in and then I finally got her in the house,” said Henriquez.
Cleveland Police and EMT arrived on scene and transported both women to the hospital but in the chaos of it all, the dogs left. Family members did manage to take a few short clips of the dogs walking away. In it, you can see they have collars on.
Negron has multiple deep wounds covering her legs and her arm. She said her elbow is broken because of how deep the dog’s teeth sunk in.
“Right now, I don't even know what I'm going to be able to do when I am going to go back to work, to take care of my kids. What am I going to do to have a normal life again,” she said.
She added that doctors told their family that if the dog would’ve bit one inch deeper on her grandmother’s ankle, she would’ve lost her foot.
Now, the family is hoping to find the dogs and the identity of their owner.
Cleveland Police reported that an hour before the attack on Negron and her grandmother, they responded to another dog attack in Slavic Village. They said a 7-year-old was transported to UH Rainbow Babies and Children's in serious condition.
News 5 is working to learn more about the separate incident.
Cleveland Police said investigating the dogs whereabouts is handled by Animal Care and Control. However, a spokesperson for the Division of Animal Care and Control told News 5 the department does not have any known information related to this incident.
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