North Highlands neighbors worried about dog involved in mail carrier attack for "months"
NORTH HIGHLANDS -- A 73-year-old mail carrier is in recovery Monday after he was attacked by a dog in North Highlands while on the job last week.
The man typically delivered mail to the dog's owner from the street, the owner told CBS13 on Monday, but would not share his name and did not want to be identified. Through a security gate on his front door, the owner told CBS13 that the mail carrier would call from the street when he arrived, to avoid contact with the Pitbull named Blue.
On Friday, he explained, the mail carrier came up to the front door, and that's when Blue escaped the house and pulled the mail carrier to the ground.
In video shared with CBS13 by Keith Williams Sr. and Jr., the father and son who live next door to the attack, the dog's owner attempts to intervene in the attack, but falls over onto the mail carrier in the process. The dog continues to attack the carrier's face and hands while neighbors begin distractions.
"He's telling the guy, get in my yard, get in my yard, get behind the fence," said Angie Martinez, a neighbor who called 911 when she heard the mail carrier's screams.
"I was in shock," said Martinez, not realizing the attack involved a dog.
The Williamses start calling over to the dog, making noise against a chain link fence that separates their property from the property where the attack occurred. For a moment, the dog is distracted and leaves the mail carrier alone, enough for the man to get back up and head towards the fence.
It wasn't a long enough delay, as the mail carrier is then approached again by the dog, and begins to fight back with a shoe in his hand.
At this point, nearly 10 minutes into the attack, a good Samaritan rides by on a bicycle and stops to help the Williamses distract the dog. Together, the group gets the dog away long enough for the mail carrier to get to the other side of the chain link fence, protected.
Sacramento Metro Fire Medics, Sacramento County Sheriff's Deputies, and Medics personnel responded to the scene and transported the mail carrier to the hospital. In the attack, the dog's owner was also injured, according to a Sacramento Sheriff's Office statement.
A United States Postal Service spokesperson told CBS13 Monday they would have an update on the mail carrier's recovery and health status on Tuesday.
In the meantime, the Sacramento County Sheriff's Office said charges would go through the county's animal control, CBS13 has reached out to confirm potential charges Monday.