MASON CITY, IA - John Hanson was going to his friend’s house to use the internet. But as he came around the corner he saw the upstairs neighbor's pit bull watching him from the top of the stairs."I knew there was nothing I could do. He just started to run at me, I just dropped the camera and tried to get away."
He says the dog latched on to his arm, tearing a chunk out of his wrist, and as he tried to shove the dog away and make a break for it the dog started biting the back of his thigh.
"I was scared to death. I was absolutely scared to death. I just saw the blood and saw the one wound on my wrist and I didn't know if I was going to bleed out or what."
He was only able to get away after his friend jumped into the action.
"If it hadn't been for my friend Nathan, who lived in the downstairs apartment, I’m not sure what would have happened."
Nathan distracted the dog enough to let Hanson make a break for the house. Police were on the scene quickly, and Capt. Mike McKelvey of the Mason City Police Department says another pit bull went after an officer.
"He shot the dog, the shot did not hit the dog, but we took it to the vet because the dog had blood on it, but that was not from the shot."
Officials fear the dogs may have rabies and so they are under observation at the Mason City Animal Shelter. Now McKelvey says, it's up to the courts to decide the pit bull's fate.
"If the dog is deemed vicious, it may be ordered by the courts to be euthanized or ‘put down.’”
The pit bull's owner Paige Burgess says there's more to the story. She tells us one of the dogs was in a kennel and the outside door was shut. After the incident she came home to find the kennel door smashed in and deep scratch marks along the stairs.
She wonders if something agitated the dogs enough to break out.
While police tell us, this isn't the first time the dog's bitten.
"It's not the first time and again we expect owners to take precautions and be responsible pet owners especially if they know it has dangerous or violent propensities."
In fact, Mason City City ordinances show it's unlawful for the owner of any animal to let their pet injure someone or cause fear, whether that's on public or private property.
But Hanson tells us he just hopes he never has to feel that fear and pain again.
"I'm actually glad that it was me and not a child or something else that happened to be walking by because god only knows what would have happened."
Paige Burgess, the dog's owner, tells me the dogs were left with her from a previous owner.
The victim, Hanson says if pit bulls are raised as a puppy with love and care, they are great pets. He personally owns three.
Burgess is cited for a having a vicious animal, not getting the dogs their rabies vaccination, not having a dog license and for the dog running loose.
These are all simple misdemeanors which could get Burgess 30 days in jail or a more than a 600 dollar fine for each count.
