A 58-year-old woman from Harvey, Illinois, is now facing a fact that will change her life: on April 14, she was walking home when she was attacked by two dangerous dogs. Donna Hale’s terrible experience left her fighting for her life and, in the end, required the cutting off of her foot.
Hale was walking home from a friend’s house near where 145th Street and Sangamon Street meet when the terrible thing happened. As she walked down the street in the suburbs, she felt something behind her all of a sudden. When Hale turned around, she was scared to see two dogs coming at her.
“When I turned around, I saw two dogs,” Hale said, her voice shaking. “They attacked me when I fell backwards.” One grabbed my leg and the other my arm, and they began to beat me up.
There was no way Hale could beat the strong dogs, even though she was only 125 pounds. The dogs pulled her up and down the street for more than 15 minutes. The people around her didn’t hear her cries for help, and it looked like no one was coming to help her.
She looked very upset as she said, “They were pulling me from both ends.” “All I could think was, ‘These dogs are going to bite me.'” “Is this really going to happen?”
There was some hope when two cars pulled up to the scene. One of the drivers saw the brutal attack and tried to stop it. “He flashed his lights and blew his horn, but the dogs never stopped,” he said. The dogs finally stopped biting when one of the witnesses pulled out a gun and shot one of them.
“I heard ‘arf,’ and they both ran away,” Hale said, feeling calmer but still shocked. When another car called 911, Hale was being rescued. “I put my hand on my head and begged you not to leave.” Mama told her, “I’m not leaving you.” “I need to call an ambulance,” Hale remembered.
Hale’s life would never be the same after he got to the hospital. Doctors told her that because of how badly she was hurt, they would have to cut off most of her foot. Hale agreed because she was determined to stay alive.
What Hale said: “The doctor said, ‘I need your permission to cut off your foot.’ I said yes.'” “All I wanted was to stay alive.”
Hale had seven surgeries in the weeks after the attack, as well as a lot of care for bite scars and road rash. Being blamed for the attack also took a toll on her emotions. “They tried to make it look like I did something wrong or was the cause of what happened,” Hale said of her talk with the police.
Cheryl Hunt, her sister, spoke out about how upset she was with how Hale was treated during the investigation. What made him say that? “Harvey is a dangerous place. Why is your sister walking around Harvey?” Hunt said, thinking about the words that blamed the victim.
As the case goes on, a Harvey spokesperson acknowledged that people in the neighborhood are worried about the investigation. “We are aware of the claims about the types of questions that were asked during the investigation,” the representative said, adding that the case was still being looked into.
Animal control officers quickly came to the scene of the attack. After being checked for rabies, one of the dogs, a rottweiler, was found and put down. The second dog, on the other hand, has not been found. Because of what happened, the Cook County Department of Animal and Rabies Control said they would teach two Harvey police officers for free on how to handle animals.
Hale is still getting better, but she has a positive view on life. “I no longer have any toes.” “They’re not going to grow back,” she told him. “I need to get used to a new normal.” Hale is eager to move on with her life and start over, even though she knows it will take a long time.
This sad story shows how dangerous animals can be when they are not controlled. Now, people are putting pressure on local leaders to fix the problems with animal control and make sure that this kind of attack doesn’t happen again in Harvey or any other town.
“This article was written by Mathew Owen. AI tools were used lightly for grammar and formatting, but the ideas, words, and edits are all mine.”
