A 10-year-old boy has hundreds of stitches after he reportedly stepped in between a pit bull and younger children while getting off the school bus.
WPBF reported that Gerardo Rendon, a fifth-grader, was getting off the school bus with a number of other children on Thursday when he noticed a pit bull he had never seen before.
"I was just worried for everybody else," Gerardo told WPEC. "I just put myself in front of it.
“I tried to make it come towards me because there was a lot of little kids over there,” he said.
But Gerardo got scared and ran.
“When it started chasing me, I’m like, ‘What do I do? What did I get myself into?’ I’m like, ‘Hopefully this dog doesn’t kill me,’” he said. “I was running, he chased me, he bit me in my ankle, I fell to the ground and then when it got me down, it bit me in my face,” he said.
Surveillance video from the school bus shows the attack. WPBF reported that the dog charged at the boy, latching onto his legs.
“I was like, ‘Help, help! This dog is biting me, I don’t know what to do.’ I’m like, ‘Please God help me!’” Gerardo said, adding that he was bit at least 10 times on his face, left arm and legs.
“It bit me in my leg and then I started kicking it and then it got a little bit scared but it kept attacking me,” he said. “I was just panicking, I didn’t know what to do.”
Credit: Element5 Digital/ Unsplash
Credit: Element5 Digital/ Unsplash
Other children intervened. Gerardo said he got the dog in a chokehold as others began hitting it. He got away, but it ran after him again.
“When I seen the dog chasing me behind me, I was just like, super-scared,” Gerado said. "I’m like, ‘Am I faster than this dog or is this dog faster than me? Am I gonna let this dog kill me or will I defend myself?”
Gerardo got away again and his aunt took him to a nearby hospital, where he underwent five hours of surgery, WPBF reported. He got over 300 stitches, according to WPEC.
When authorities arrived, the dog charged at police. It was shot and killed.
Gerardo told WPEC he wishes he had stayed on the bus and asked the driver not to let anyone off the bus until the dog went away.
Officials are looking for the owner of the dog.
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