Off-leash dog mauls 2 men at Woodland Hills park, owner flees scene

WOODLAND HILLS, LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- The search is on for a woman whose dog mauled two men Saturday afternoon at Warner Park in Woodland Hills, sending the men to the hospital with dozens of bite wounds.

"He was trying to get my neck, so I'm like, 'Hey, this dog is going to kill me!'" said Emeterio Marroquin. "I tried to grab his teeth and tried to choke him, because he was trying to get my neck, but he didn't have nothing on his neck to grab."

The Chatsworth man says the dog was not only off-leash, but not wearing a collar. As he struggled to free himself from the dog, another man, Patricio Fuentes, heard the dog's owner screaming for help, so he ran over and tried to get the dog off Marroquin.

"All of a sudden the dog realized I was there trying to distract him and he jumped at me and lunged at me. Got me in the chest and in the arm," Fuentes told Eyewitness News.

The dog eventually ended its attack, returning to its owner.

Both men were rushed to the hospital with dozens of bite wounds. Marroquin rated his pain at the top of the scale.

"You could say from one to ten, like ten!"

Fuentes and Marroquin are hoping cellphone video of the attack will help identify the owner, who left as soon as she was able to get the dog on a leash.

"She got into a car right after. She didn't want to wait for the police and took off," Fuentes said.

The dog is described as a white pit bull mix with black spots, weighing about 60 pounds.

Both men say it's important to get that dog off the streets and out of parks.

"He was just crazy," said Marroquin. "Imagine if it was a kid who was attacked. Maybe he's going to get killed."