Orland Park Woman Recovering From Pit Bull Attack
ORLAND PARK, Ill. (STMW) - For a week now, Kathy Margetis' frightened screams have startled her husband, Pete, from sleep. "Let me go," she shouts.
In her nightmares, the 53-year-old mother of three from Orland Park is reliving the horrifying experience of being attacked by a pit bull.
For Margetis, who was attacked a week ago, many of the details are a blur. The dog rushed her dog then turned on her, eventually locking its powerful jaws on Margetis' thigh and shredding her arm.
"I remember just screaming, 'Oh, God, this hurts. Please get him off me,' " Margetis said of the attack.
An avid runner, Margetis heads to the trail around Centennial Park several times a week, often accompanied by her 6-year-old wheaten terrier, Seamus. Last Sunday morning, Margetis, who works in tech support at Meadow Ridge Elementary School in Orland Park, ran into Helen Kaczmarek, a secretary at the adjacent Century Junior High School. Both had their dogs with them, but they separated because Margetis runs and Kaczmarek walks.
Margetis went ahead of Kaczmarek and had just started jogging along a sidewalk in the 10200 block of 153rd Street in Orland Park, when the pit bull charged across the street.
"I saw it at the last minute. It was like a bullet coming across the street," Margetis said. "I was trying to pull the pit bull off of Seamus but (the pit bull) had no collar on. She was acting so violently. I thought she'd kill Seamus."
After several tugs from Margetis, the dog, named "Aggie," turned its fury on Margetis, clamping its powerful bite into her right thigh. Margetis, who had been screaming for help, let out a louder cry. Kaczmarek, who heard all the screaming, came running with her dog from near the Metra parking lot.
"Her screams were horrendous," said Kaczmarek, of Orland Park. "When I got there, I was only thinking I had to help her."
Margetis said that as she was being attacked, she kept telling herself she could get through it "if someone could just help get the dog off of me."
Kaczmarek tried to pull the pit bull off but had a hard time grabbing it.
"It had short, slick fur," she said.
A couple had pulled up along the curb, and Kaczmarek got her dog and Seamus into their vehicle before again trying to separate Margetis from the pit bull that now was biting up and down her left arm.
"It was such horrible pain," Margetis said. "I knew that dog was going to kill me and Seamus. She just kept crunching down on me. She eyes looked scary. I kept thinking she was going to go for my face. I tried to poke its eyes, but I had gloves on. That may have saved my hands from being bitten."
Not knowing what else to do, Kaczmarek and a man who had pulled over ran into the middle of the street looking for help.
Heading down 153rd Street at that moment were Sam Miuccio and his son, Sam Jr., bound for work at Sam Miuccio's business, A-OK Glass, Metal & Mirror in Bridgeview.
"I was still sleepy, and I see this guy in the middle of the road waving his arms, and a couple of women there, too" Miuccio said. "I was afraid to stop at first. I wasn't sure what was going on at 7 o'clock on a Sunday morning. The world's changed, and you have to be careful."
He slowed down anyway and spotted Margetis being attacked. From there, Miuccio said, he just reacted.
He pulled over, grabbed a sizable chain from the back of his truck and ran to where Margetis was being attacked.
"I folded the chain in two and started beating on the dog's back," Miuccio said.
After a few whacks, Miuccio said, the dog backed off, barked a couple of times, then walked back across to the north side of 153rd Street. Miuccio quickly left to get to his business without knowing whom he had rescued.
After Orland Park police and other emergency personnel arrived, Margetis was taken to Palos Community Hospital. Police were able to trap and collar the pit bull and impounded it at the police station.
"It was snarling while they tried to put the noose on it," Kaczmarek said.
Margetis' memory of finally being released from the pit bull's grip is that she felt great relief. She remembers being grateful to those who came to her rescue.
"That dog would have got all of us if the guy with the chain didn't come along, or if Helen wasn't there to help," Margetis said. "I don't know what I would have done if she wasn't there."
Margetis suffered multiple bites on her left arm, and the dog left a few gashes on her right thigh. She was due to see a surgeon to see if she suffered nerve or tendon damage.
Her dog, Seamus, suffered a few bites on its feet and shoulders and is on pain medication.
Margetis said Orland Park's animal control officer told her the dog that attacked them had not had its rabies shot.
"That's another thing to worry about," she said.
Her emotional state has been affected, too. In addition to the nightmares, Margetis said she likely won't go back to the running path she loved so much.
"I know he's got more pit bulls," she said of the dog's owner, Joshua Breen, who lives across the street from where the attack took place. "Several of my friends who walk there have told me they're not going, either."
Margetis said she was so unnerved by the experience that she took a roundabout way Monday to go for follow-up care at Palos Primary Care Center, just east of where the attack occurred.
Kaczmarek, too, said she was timid about going back to take her walks, but she was convinced by her husband to do so right away.
Both women describe themselves as dog lovers but believe the pit bull is a real danger.
"I feel bad for the dog; it's the owner's fault," Margetis said. "But that dog may kill somebody. I don't want this to happen to anyone else."
Miuccio said his heart was pumping hard for some time after his encounter with the pit bull.
"I was not sure it wasn't going after me next," he said.
Miuccio said the chain was in the back of his truck by happenstance. He said he found it on the ground a few days earlier and thought it would be useful for something.
"It was a nice, thick chain," he said.
When Kathy Margetis got back from Palos Community Hospital on Sunday night after being treated for wounds suffered during the pit bull attack, a couple of interesting voice mails awaited her.
One was from Marsha Miuccio, who called Margetis to let her know that an employee of Meadow Ridge Elementary School in Orland Park, where Margetis works, had been attacked by a pit bull while walking near a path. Marsha wanted to find out whether Margetis knew who the victim was.
Miuccio knew about the attack because it was her husband, Sam Miuccio, who had rescued the woman from the attack and called his wife to tell her about it. Marsha's son, Sam Jr., had heard the victim mention she worked at Meadow Ridge, where Miuccio's children had attended.
Marsha knew Margetis worked at the school and that she had instructed Miuccio's daughter in gymnastics and cheering.
Margetis said she also received a voice mail from Joshua Breen, owner of the pit bull.
"He was apologetic in the message," she said.
Margetis said he also left her a PetSmart gift card.
-- Southtown Star via the Sun-Times Media Wire
