2 Dogs Attack 67-Year-Old Woman In Odessa, Neighbor Saves Her Life

Two dogs attacked a 67-year-old woman in Odessa while she was doing yard work. It was the help of a fast-acting neighbor that saved her life.

News West 9 reports that the incident occurred last week on the 700 block of South Lee. Juanita Rodriguez was mowing her lawn when two neighborhood dogs launched an attack on her.

Neighbor Louis Garza was outside when the commotion broke out. He said he initially thought nothing of it until he heard screaming.

“She was hysterical. She was panicking. She was holding her chin because it seemed like something was hanging. She was just gushing blood,” said Garza.

While the two dogs were attacking the woman, Garza jumped over his fence and successfully chased the pit bulls away by yelling and charging at them.

As for Rodriguez’s condition, she’s been in the hospital and is reportedly going through her second of many surgeries. The victim’s son, Sam Rodriguez, tells the news station that it’s going to be a “process” to get his mother healed after the mauling.

“It’s going to be a process. It’s not going to just be a one-time operation,” said Sam. “Today was the skin graft or the initial skin graft. She’s going to have to come back for some more.”

67-year-old woman slowly recovering after dog attack in Odessa https://t.co/XEIkNb9bzy

— Odessa Daily (@OdessaDaily) July 12, 2016

Dog owners Aurelio Hernandez-Leyva and Maria Quintero-Leyva were charged with attack by dog.

The Rodriguez family is disillusioned at the lack of concern for the victim expressed by the dogs’ owners. Garza said Quintero-Leyva was present when her pit bulls were mauling Rodriguez and offered no help.

“She just turned around and walked away, like it’s nothing. I guess she figured since there was already somebody here to help her, she was no longer needed. I don’t know what was going on through her head,” said Garza.

Here’s the scene of this morning’s dog attack https://t.co/qGp7hkpPX6

— CBS 7 (@CBS7News) July 8, 2016

They hope this violent dog attack will make others think about their own animals and keep them under control.

Sam Rodriguez points out that a child could have been attacked.

“It could have been a kid. It could have been a smaller kid out there that they could have attacked,” said Sam.

Juanita Rodriguez is improving and is expected to be released from the hospital on Wednesday.

In April, another dog attack happened, but the victim was a 19-month-old toddler. News West 9 reported at the time that his 91-year-old grandmother’s blue heeler mauled him. When Braydon Wright was being attacked, his grandmother tried prying the dog off of him, but she wasn’t strong enough. It wasn’t until his parents arrived that the dog backed off in the attack.

Medical bills totaled over a million dollars, and an updated report revealed that he was going to lose an eye and had over 900 stitches on his head. He’d undergone brain surgery and plans to see a plastic surgeon in Lubbock.

The family insisted that the dog wasn’t violent and often played with Braydon and other children. After the attack, the dog died in the custody of animal control due to a stroke resulting from a seizure. The family couldn’t help but wonder if was the seizure that brought on the attack.

Commercial State Bank is still taking donations in Braydon Wright’s name for medical bills. The latest report revealed that over $16,000 had been raised by west Texas residents.

Several dog attacks have unfolded this year. A lot of family dogs have turned on small children, and strangers have found themselves the target of maulings, such as the one in Odessa where the woman was attacked by two dogs in her own backyard.

[Photo by David Paul Morris/Getty Images]