Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
MILLCREEK — A Millcreek man, 81, is recovering after a pit bull attacked him, sending him to the hospital.
"It's the most terrifying experience I've ever had," Larry Overton said. "It all happened so quickly."
The 81-year-old was out for his daily walk around 8 a.m. Friday on a path near the playground at Oakridge Elementary School, 4325 Jupiter Drive, when he said he encountered a woman and her unleashed pit bull.
"The dog circled around me on the grass and came up behind me and grabbed my arm," Overton said. "I kicked at it and was backing away from the dog. I stumbled, then he grabbed the other arm."
Overton said the dog's owner then grabbed it by its harness to get it off of him.
"The dog was actually pulling her toward me, but she had slowed it enough that I got away and ran home," he said.
He did not realize the extent of his injuries until he lifted his long-sleeve shirt and saw the puncture wounds on both arms.
"The bites went to the bone," he said. "One had a quarter-sized chunk bitten out."
He rushed to the hospital where doctors cleaned and loosely sutured the wounds, hoping to prevent infection.
"Rabies is the much bigger issue, and the big deal is we need to find the dog," Overton said Friday. "I have 24 hours from 8:00 this morning to find out if the dog has had its rabies vaccine."
Initially, officials at the Utah Department of Health and Human Services told the family that Overton would need to start treatment for rabies at the conclusion of 24 hours, with multiple injections administered over the next couple of weeks, if they could not find the dog and verify it's been recently vaccinated.
The dog was located on Saturday, a family member confirmed to KSL, and the owner of the pit bull said the dog was up on its rabies shots.
Overton is just glad no children were on campus when he was attacked. The elementary students are currently on fall break.
"We would have a much different outcome. It wouldn't be dog bites, it would be a child dead," he said.
The Granite School District told KSL that their cameras on campus did not capture the attack.
Unified police said their agency, along with animal control are investigating the incident.
Contributing: Matt Brooks
