Family Of Dogs That Mauled Woman Call It An "Accident"

An Oklahoma City woman remains in critical condition after she was mauled by four pit bulls Saturday.

Witnesses say the woman fought the dogs until she lost consciousness.  Neighbors say the dogs have terrorized this neighborhood to the point where they're afraid to walk down the street.

The 911 caller told dispatchers, "They're eating this woman.  I mean they're killing her.  And we're trying to stop it. There's blood all over the place.  And these dogs have tasted it.”

Police say 54-year old Terri Cosby was walking down Northeast 29th street after talking with a neighbor when the dogs attacked.

"She was gone about two or three minutes and I heard all the ‘oh my god help me! Somebody help me!’" Neighbor Felix Willis said.

Neighbor Roosevelt Alford hit the dogs with a pipe until one turned on him, biting away at his arms, legs and back until he lost consciousness. 

Police shot two of the dogs. The others were taken away by animal control. 

Alford says he's been attacked by the dogs before.  And he's not alone.  86-year-old Rosetta Pierce says the dogs killed her 13 year-old-dog, Poochie, last December.

"The dogs were over there, came over and they jumped the fence.  The white dog, he had her mouth in his mouth and the black dog had her in his mouth and they were shaking her from side to side." Pierce said, "It hurt me so bad I was in the bed for two days."

Fred Holmes' estranged wife owns the dogs.  He says plumbers were working in the back yard and didn't close the gate when they left. 

"They didn't put the gate back up. They didn't let them know that they were gone.  So it got dark, they let the dogs out and the gate was open and they ran out.  It was a freak accident." Holmes said, "Everybody's heartfelt for this lady.  She lost her arm, possibly her leg.  Nobody wants to see that.  It was an accident. That's what happened."

Animal Welfare says they’ve had two complaints about the dogs in the past year, but callers didn’t want to file a dangerous dog complaint, so the dogs were never removed.

Oklahoma City Police are still working to determine whether charges will be filed against the dog’s owners.