Westchester Man Recounts Brutal Dog Pack Attack
MOUNT VERNON, N.Y. (CBS 2) -- For the first time, a Westchester County man mauled by a violent pack of dogs is speaking out about the night he thought his life was over.
As he heals in a hospital bed, with his arms and legs literally stitched back together, 38-year-old Craig Jones said the last week of his life has been painful and frustrating, reports CBS 2's Hazel Sanchez.
"You never know," he said. "Your life can change at the drop of a dime."
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In an instant, a pack of ferocious dogs turned Jones' world upside down, mauling the Mount Vernon electrician to the bone.
"They were just chewing on my legs, they never let go of my legs," Jones said.
Jones said he had just left his mother's home on East 4th Street in Mount Vernon when he was a familiar group of dogs, from a local auto body shop, approaching.
"I think the dogs were hungry. They were attacking people like they were hunting, like they were a pack of wolves," he said.
Jones said a Rottweiler, pit bull and a Wheaton terrier mix latched onto his arms and legs and tore his skin apart.
"I was just yelling for help. My neighbor heard me, they tried to throw stuff out the window at the dogs, but the dogs wouldn't stop," he said. "I had no clue if I was going to survive it. I just saw blood everywhere, all I could think about was my kids, my mother – I didn't know what to do."
Police shot one of the dogs and captured another, but the third got away.
Two of the animals were involved in the August killing of a neighborhood Yorkie. A court ordered the dogs returned to their owner, and Jones said he's paying for the judge's mistake.
"If people know that a dog is vicious, I think that dog should be euthanized," he said.
Jones is receiving a series of rabies shots, and is on antibiotics and painkillers. His doctors say his prognosis is good.
"I feel blessed to be alive," Jones said. "I'll be even more blessed when I can walk through my door, give my mother and my kids a hug."
That's expected to happen within days. Jones is slowly starting to walk again, but it will be quite some time before he can return to work.
