Do you remember this?

28 jan

A man has died in hospital after apparently being savaged in the street by his own dog.
Several dogs have attacked recentlyEyewitnesses saw the victim, believed to be in his mid-50s, lying on the floor with the dog biting him.
But they do not agree about whether it had turned on him, or whether the dog was trying to help.
Police called to the scene in Newham, east London, managed to distract the animal by setting off a fire extinguisher and chasing the dog away.
Armed officers were called in to help prevent anyone else getting hurt, and the dog was shot dead.
The animal was described as being dangerously out of control and is thought to have belonged to the victim.
Resident Aziz Rahman, 32, said: “I heard some banging on the door. I looked out of my bedroom window.
“There was a man lying on the floor and a dog was over him, licking and biting him.
“He looked like a doll, the dog was pulling at him.
“From what I saw, it looked like he was attacking the man. There was blood all over his face.”
But a worker at a nearby cab firm insisted that the dog was not attacking the man but trying to help him.
Lee Hanson said: “The man was face down and the dog was trying to wake him up.
“The dog wasn’t attacking him at all… it was his own dog. It was banging his head, trying to wake him up.”
Mr Hanson said he would see the man walking past the offices every day and he and the dog appeared to be “best friends”.

UPDATE FEB 2008

Dog owner died of natural causes

The dog was killed by police near the scene
A 78-year-old man believed to have been killed by his rottweiler dog in east London died from natural causes.
A post-mortem examination has revealed that Jim Rehill suffered a stroke moments before the apparent attack.

Witnesses said Mr Rehill “looked like a doll” as the animal shook and bit him in Plaistow, last month.

But the post-mortem examination held at East Ham mortuary appeared to back claims from some witnesses that the pet was trying to help the owner.

Mr Rehill was taken to hospital suffering from severe head and facial injuries and died later that night.

Armed police killed the dog near the scene.

Shame innit.

I even condemned this on another site. Saying how the owner brought the dog as “protection”. God bless he loved his owner “to death”.