MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – A father of four and grandfather of five was viciously mauled by a pack of dogs while walking home Tuesday morning from a bus stop in northwest Miami-Dade County.
The bloody sidewalk at Northwest 103rd Street and Northwest 12th Avenue, just feet from the start of a school zone, was the scene of a dog mauling, video shows.
The victim, identified by family members as Jack Nortis, had just finished an overnight shift, his daughter said.
She provided Local 10 News with photos of her father in the hospital.
She said that her father would be going into surgery early Tuesday evening.
Hours earlier, as Nortis walked west on the sidewalk, a surveillance camera from a neighboring market shows him turn around as one dog is approaching him. The dog leaps, knocking Nortis into the direction of oncoming traffic on Northwest 103rd Street and begins attacking him.
At least three more dogs join in the attack as Nortis struggles to fight them off.
One man appears in the video tossing something in the direction of the dogs.
A nearby store owner threw hot dogs to distract the dogs from the attack, which worked temporarily, witnesses said.
WARNING: Video below is considered graphic and may be unsuitable for some viewers.
"(The victim) was screaming and there was some nice gentlemen, they were taking some bats and whacking the dogs from off of the man," Brittany Williams, who was driving down Northwest 103rd Street, said. "I pulled my car in and blocked the dogs and some gentleman (closed) the gate and dogs stopped biting the man."
The condition of Nortis, who is a father of four with five grandchildren, was not immediately known.
Animal services, which removed the dogs from the scene, released the following statement:
"This afternoon Miami-Dade Animal Services responded to a serious dog bite incident occurring in the vicinity of NW 103 Street and 12th Avenue. Five Bulldogs were seized as a result of the incident and will remain in custody until the outcome of the dangerous dog investigation."
Video below shows the dogs that witnesses said are the ones that attacked Nortis.