Girl helps save 8-year-old neighbor after frightening dog attack in Carroll County
CARROLL COUNTY, Ind. (WLFI) – An 8-year-old boy is being treated for severe arm injuries after being attacked by a dog. Neighbors say even though the dog has never attacked anyone before, Thursday was the first time they’ve seen it unleashed.
A curdling scream from 12-year-old Raven McMurtie possibly saved the life of one her close friends.
- WARNING: Video contains graphic content.
“I started crying, and I started praying to make sure he’s OK,” McMurtie said. “He had blood all over. His arm was just hanging, and it looked like it was broke.”
Raven saw her friend being attacked by a neighbor’s dog in the field right across from her home in rural Carroll County.
“There was chunks of skin missing from the dog,” Raven’s mother, Brandy Johnson said. “The dog dropped him and picked him up again and was shaking him. And that’s when me and my daughter had come out and her screaming at the dog is what scared it away.”
The 8-year-old was rushed to the hospital. Police said the boy had serious injuries to his arm.
“It was to the bone,” Johnson said of the boy’s injuries. “It was that deep in three different spots.”
McMurtie said her friend showed a lot of toughness following the attack.
“[I asked], ‘Are you OK?’ And he said, ‘I’m fine, I’m fine,’” McMurtie said. “He just kept saying he was fine. He’s really tough.”
A Carroll County deputy arrived to the dog’s home in the Wildwood Valley Mobile Home Park. According to authorities, the dog was acting aggressive and the deputy shot it in the chest.
“The gunshot went off, and when I saw the police officer and that the land owner was down there, [I knew] that something was going on,” neighbor Tanner Dubes-Cripe said. “And when the dog came to me. I knew exactly what happened.”
Dubes-Cripe is a service dog trainer and lives a couple doors down from the dog’s owner. He helped the deputy calm the dog down.
Because Carroll County currently doesn’t have an animal control, Clinton County’s animal control picked up the dog and took him to a vet in Delphi.
He will be quarantined there for the next 10 days.
“I’ve never seen him running free. He’s always been chained up,” Johnson said.
Neighbors said the dog has never attacked anyone, but some have had other concerns about him.
“The only thing that I’ve ever seen is he’s always been tied up outside of his trailer. He never has food, never has water and never has shelter from what we’ve seen,” Johnson said. “I’ve reported it to the Animal Welfare League.”