Colonia Woman Recovering After She Was Attacked By A Pit Bull

WOODBRIDGE, NJ — The 68-year-old woman who was attacked by a pit bull last Tuesday in Woodbridge has been released from the hospital and is recovering at home, said her brother in law.

The attack happened at 8:45 a.m. Aug. 11 on Temple Way. It is a quiet residential street in the town's Colonia section; there is a Hindu temple located at the bottom of the block, hence the street's name.

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The pit bull had just been adopted a day earlier from Associated Humane Society in Newark. A family that lives on the block adopted the dog on Monday, and a girl in the family was taking the dog for a walk in her neighborhood that morning.

While Woodbridge towns spokesman John Hagerty initially told Patch it was a "young girl" who took the dog for a walk, the girl was actually a teenager, said both the victim's brother in law and a neighbor who witnessed the attack firsthand.

(All the families involved in this story — the dog's owners, the woman who was attacked, her brother in law and the neighbor who witnessed the attack — live within four houses of each other on Temple Way.)

The teen girl had the dog on a leash, but the strong dog broke free of her grasp. The dog ran towards two women, both in their 60s, who were walking near the temple.

"The dog jumped on the woman," said P.J., 77, the neighbor. He requested he be notified by his initials only for privacy.

"The dog jumped on her face and started biting her face. She was crying and screaming; I heard it. I ran out (of my house) to help and she was bleeding heavily."

P.J. said the dog's force knocked the frail older woman to the ground and she was cowering on the sidewalk as the dog continued to bite her.

"He bit her on the cheek, under the neck and on the hand," he said. "I started to beat the dog with my shoe, but it did not stop. I'm lucky it didn't turn on me. I really think the dog was trying to take her eye out. If I gotten there two minutes later, the dog could have eaten her face. Her face will never be normal again."

The woman's nephew, in his 20s, then also ran out of their house to help, and both he and P.J. called 911. Woodbridge Police and an ambulance arrived within minutes, said P.J.

The woman was taken to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Rahway, said her brother in law, Partap Singh, 62. She was admitted overnight Tuesday and released Wednesday. She will require plastic surgery for a long gash to her cheek. She has an appointment Friday with a specialist to see if she suffered any nerve damage around her eye, said Singh.

"I really think God sent (P.J.) to help her," said Singh, of his neighbor. "My wife could not help her; she is in her 60s as well."

"She could have died," he said, referring to his sister in law.

Woodbridge Animal Control picked up the dog last Tuesday and the pit bull was put in a 10-day quarantine at Newark Associated Humane Society; the quarantine will last until Friday. Newark Associated Humane Society will then decide what to do with the animal, said a Woodbridge Twp. spokesman. The dog will not be returned to the family in Woodbridge.

"They should be charged with a crime," said P.J., referring to the dog's owners. "And that dog should not be in society."

No criminal charges have been filed against the dog's owners.

Singh said the family that owned the pit bull has not come to his house to apologize or express their concern for the women, even though they only live two houses down from each other.

Pennsylvania Avenue Elementary School is right around the corner from where the dog attack happened.

"Thank God there were no children out that day, or on their way to school," said Lisa Chesney, a neighbor who lives up the block.

Initial report: Pit Bull Attacks Woman Out Walking In Woodbridge (Monday)