A construction worker and a young boy jumped to action and played a part in saving a man’s life in Minnesota recently when the man was attacked by a pit bull.
According to a report from KARE TV, 9-year-old Marshall Schmitz saw a pit bull attacking a man walking his dog in St. Louis Park on Monday.
“I saw a man walking a little dog, and then a pit bull I’d never seen before run after the man,” Schmitz told the station. “And the man was holding his little dog in his arms in the air, and then the man got knocked over.”
So the boy turned to CS McCrossan Construction worker Derrick Johnson for help. Johnson said he could tell something was wrong when Schmitz approached his jobsite. The boy has been riding his bike to the site all summer to watch crews build a noise barrier along Highway 100.
Johnson rushed from the jobsite with the boy and wrestled the pit bull to the ground and held him there until police officers arrived. Though the smaller dog was killed in the attack, the two were able to prevent further injury to the man, who had suffered six or seven bites and was in a lot of pain.
“When we arrived, the construction worker, Derrick Johnson, was doing his best to try to get this pit bull off of this elderly male,” St. Louis Park police officer Mike Merwin said.
They were able to get the dog into a squad car and transport him to an animal hospital. The dog’s owners have agreed to have it euthanized.
The attack victim was released from the hospital and is recovering at home.
