A 72-year-old man is recovering from an attack by two dogs Monday, in large part due to the help of a brother and sister who came to the man’s aid.
Jeremy and Jessica Phillips heard the man scream Saturday when he was attacked by two dogs while standing at bus stop on Hil-Mar Drive, in the Forestville area of Prince George’s County, Maryland.
“I could just hear the pain in the way he was moaning and trembling,” Jessica Phillips told NBC Washington.
“I have never seen dogs like that before,” said Jeremy. “They were both standing up on him — one had this arm, the other had the other arm.”
Jeremy Phillips grabbed a stick to try to get the two dogs — identified as mixed-breed, American bulldogs — off the man. Another bystander jumped in.
“He grabbed the trash can, and started doing what I was doing — hitting the dogs and yelling at them,” the brother said.
Prince George’s County police said the man suffered very serious injuries to his face and hands, underwent surgery and is expected to recover.
Jessica Phillips said the dogs’ intensity was horrifying: “If I could put into one word what their behavior was like, it was like they were possessed.”
Another victim, a 52-year-old man, attempted to escape by climbing on top of a car, but the dogs kept pulling the man down onto the street.
Responding Prince George’s County police shot one of the dogs when it attempted to attack the officers. The other dog was restrained with a catch pole, but the flailing dog strangled himself and died, police said.
Watch NBC Washington’s report:
