FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Jay Powell and Ted Lauper walk their dogs with a group of friends through Fort Lauderdale’s Victoria Park neighborhood daily.
But things took a turn for the worst on Saturday as they walked by a truck with a man sleeping inside -- his dog was inside, too.
According to both men, the dog that belonged to the sleeping man jumped from the vehicle, then attacked a miniature Pinscher named Bandit who belonged to another person that was walking with them. Lauper’s Havanese named Alex was also attacked.
“The dog jumped out of the window and attacked one of our friend’s little miniature Pinscher and had the little dog by the neck and shook him, broke his neck, broke his back,” Lauper told Local 10 News on Wednesday.
“I tried kicking it or whatever. I just had to lay down on top of it to stop it from moving,” said Powell.
Both men said they inserted their hands into the attacking dog’s mouth to try and pry its jaws open but had no luck.
During the attack, the men said their friend, Joel Lee, ran to the truck to wake the man sleeping inside.
“I was yelling at him, trying to get him to get up, then I started bamming on the side of the door to wake him up and he finally woke up,” said Lee.
Lee told Local 10 that as soon as he jumped out and called for the dog to stop, the attack was over as quickly as it had started.
Shortly after, witnesses said the dog’s owner grabbed the animal, jumped back into the truck, and sped off, but not before someone in the group snapped a photo of the black Escalade’s license plate that fled the scene. The truck’s license plate was from Ohio.
Local 10 News learned that the Pinscher did not survive the attack.
Fort Lauderdale police responded to the dog attack and witnesses have given information to Broward Animal Care.
Police are urging anyone who may know anything about the man or sees the black Escalade truck with an Ohio license plate to call Broward Crime Stoppers at 954-493-8477.