Two Pit Bulls Savagely Maul Man On New York Street

Francesco Bove was mauled horrifically by two pit bull dogs Friday while walking down a New York street. As CNN reported, Francesco Bove is a 62-year-old artist and restoration expert who lives in Brooklyn.

The graphic attack was captured on video. The video shows multiple people attempting to help Mr. Bove. One man even ran a water hose over to the attack to spray the dogs. The good samaritans seemed to have little to no effect on the dogs.

A witness, Renee Norris, told NBC 4 New York that people were trying to help, but also worried about getting attacked themselves.

“People were trying, but they was also scared of getting too close because they didn’t want to get attacked.”

Eventually, Oliver got control of her dogs and the attack stopped. According to reports, a priest came out of a nearby church and read Mr. Bove his last rites. The attack left Bove with such horrible damage that he thought he was going to die.

According to Francesco’s son, Anthony, he was walking to Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church when the attack took place. The NYPD released a statement saying that Bove and the pit bull’s owner, Cynthia Oliver, exchanged words before Oliver dropped the dogs’ leashes.

Contrary to what the NYPD is saying, Anthony Bove said his father never exchanged words with Oliver. Whether words were exchanged or not, Cynthia Oliver was arrested and charged with several counts of assault and reckless endangerment. As NBC New York notes, Oliver was released on $35,000 bond.

Cynthia was also sent for mental evaluation after the attack. It was not immediately clear if she had an attorney or not.

One other man, one of the good samaritans, was also sent to the hospital after he sustained bites from the dogs.

Anthony Bove said that he believes pit bulls in general are not “evil” dogs. He suggested that the dogs that attacked his father may have been trained to do such things.

“The pit bull is not an inherently evil dog. But… these pit bulls might have been trained as guard or attack dogs. He remembers the dogs licking his blood off the ground. They wanted to finish the job. That’s very disturbing to him.”

During the attack, Bove’s ear was torn off. His ear was able to be reattached during surgery, though he has follow up surgeries scheduled.

(The very graphic video can be seen below. Viewer discretion is advised.)

[Image via YouTube]