Ellicott City Man Attacked By 2 Pit Bulls,1 Mixed Breed While Jogging
ELLICOTT CITY, Md. (WJZ)—Attacked by three dogs. That's what a Howard County man says happened to him while he was running in his own neighborhood.
Christie Ileto spoke to both him and one of the dogs' owners.
Chester Wortham III says he was violently attacked by three dogs--two of them pit bulls-- in his Ellicott City neighborhood.
"Before I could make any other determination, they were already on me," said Wortham.
Wortham says he crawled to a nearby home for help while being bitten.
"This leg, here, here, this one," he said.
But the New Year's Eve incident is one of a number of pit bull attacks across the state. In a recent ruling, the Maryland Court of Appeals labels pure breed pit bulls as inherently dangerous.
State lawmakers will take up the issue this session.
Cornell Roberts says the dogs belong to him and his mother.
"That's Marley," Roberts said.
Ileto: "Are you taking steps to make sure they don't go out and attack people?"
Roberts: "Most definitely."
Ileto: "But there's no fence. They're not fenced in."
Roberts says the dogs escaped because of a broken gate on their deck.
"I looked up there, and they were gone. I thought 'Oh God, something bad happened,'" he said. "I was grateful it wasn't as severe as it was, because I thought they were going to kill that man."
Howard County Police and Animal Control responded to the 911 call, and are investigating the incident, but police tell us these types of reports are infrequent.
Ileto: "Are these dogs dangerous?"
Roberts: "The funny thing is, they're not."
Roberts says the attack was out of character for the animals.
In the meantime, Wortham just wants to make sure no else gets hurt.
Residents in the neighborhood have been alerted about the incident and are urged to be careful.
Howard County Police and Animal Control say they had about a handful of incidents of this kind in 2012.
