A pack of seven dogs escaped a moving U-Haul truck and attacked four people in a Charlotte, North Carolina neighborhood on August 27, according to a police report. One victim, Hayley Wright, 30, was hospitalized with severe lacerations.
Attack Details
The incident occurred on Claiborne Woods Road. Neighbors reported hearing screams and witnessing the attack. Joseph Correa, a neighbor, described the scene, stating, "There was blood everywhere," as he attempted to help Wright fend off the animals. Correa recalled shouting for Wright to get inside while her partner assisted her.
Angela Johnson was taking out her recycling when she heard the commotion. She called 911 and subsequently became a target of the dogs herself. Johnson sustained wounds that required five stitches and a rabies shot. She reported not having seen the dogs in the neighborhood prior to the attack.
Law Enforcement Response
A Mecklenburg County Sheriff's deputy, Takaryl Bolton, was on the same street conducting an eviction when she encountered the attack. According to the sheriff's office, the deputy attempted to use a taser on one of the dogs, but the attempt was unsuccessful. The deputy then fatally shot one of the animals.
Following the deputy's intervention, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department and Animal Care and Control arrived on the scene and successfully captured all seven dogs involved in the mauling. The dogs are described as pitbull-type and estimated to be around one year old. The owner of the dogs has not yet been identified.
Investigators are working to confirm whether the dogs seen exiting the U-Haul in surveillance footage from a nearby location are the same ones involved in the assault. The footage, recorded four houses away, shows several dogs tumbling from the truck minutes before the attack.