Woman recalls vicious pit bull attack in Jurupa Valley

JURUPA VALLEY, Calif. (KABC) -- A pit bull unleashed a vicious attack on a woman in Jurupa Valley on Sunday, leaving her with serious injuries.

Rachelle Angerer said the attack happened when she stopped to give a friend a ride. Angerer said she brought her friend's dog some food after she said the dog appeared to be malnourished.

"He was licking my face and all happy and then he tried to climb on my shoulders and I turned away, when I turned away I felt him bite my head," Angerer said.

As she struggled to free herself, Angerer said her friend jumped in with a shovel.

"I could hear the shovel hitting him, then I felt the shovel hit me," Angerer recalled. "I fell to the ground, he drug me. He tried to drag me up under the car."

For nearly 15 minutes, Angerer said she was in a tug-of-war with her right arm locked in the pit bull's powerful jaws.

Angerer said she begged the owner to put the dog down.

"I'm like, 'It hurts. You got to do something.' He pulled away and I got a little bit away from him and he latched on again, and I said, 'Kill him," Angerer stated.

After repeated blows, Angerer said the dog finally let her go. Following the attack, Angerer said she jumped into her car and drove to another friend's home for help.

She suffered deep lacerations to her head and arm along with nerve damage. Despite her injuries, Angerer said she's most worried that the dog was still on the loose.

"The dog really needs to be put down," she said.

Angerer said the dog's owner told her that he shot the dog, but later said he hung the dog.

Animal control said when they spoke to the owner, he told them the dog ran off after the attack.

"We don't want that dog in the community or handed off to somebody else, or sent to another county. It's our job to make sure we get that dog," John Welsh with Riverside County Department of Animal Services said.

For Angerer, who labeled herself an animal lover, the attack has taken an emotional toll on her.

"I would never want any animal dead, but this one needs to go," she said.