Woman Attacked by 6 Pit Bulls Wants Cop Who Helped Save Her Fired

Rochelle Silva was attacked by six pit bulls who escaped from their home on April 24, 2019. (Arianna Silva/GoFundMe)

A Massachusetts woman who was attacked by six pit bulls while walking her dog said the police officer who came to her help should have done more to stop the attack.

“I don’t want him to be working as a police officer who’s supposed to protect and serve,” Rochelle Silva told WLNE. “I want him fired.”

Silva was walking her daughter’s dog, Ace, on April 24 when at least one dog escaped from a house. The owner tried to stop the dog but five more came out, reported AJC.

Silva tried to run but the pit bulls were too quick.

“All six were on me. If there were six of them then all six were on me,” Silva told the news website. “All six of them were biting at me.”

According to a GoFundMe page, Silva curled herself in a fetal position on the ground in order to protect Ace—the target of the pit bulls.

“Bites all over my body. I got a bite on my face, bites on my arms,” the mother said. “I have a big chunk out of my right leg...behind my knee cap that went right to the bone.”

“I thought I was going to die,” she told WLNE.

An on-duty officer saw the attack and came to her rescue. According to a police report, the officer was not able to safely discharge his firearm without potentially injuring Silva as the dogs were too close to her.

So instead, he returned to his cruiser and activated the sirens and air horn in an effort to scare the dogs away, reported the news station.

The report added that the sounds managed to distract the dogs long enough so that the police officer and a bystander could escort her to the vehicle.

Silva told AJC that she recalls that only the bystander assisted her to safety while the officer remained in his vehicle.

“He told the cop to unlock the door so he could get me in the car and he put me in the car,” she told the news website.

Silva’s daughter, Arianna, said the officer should have done more.

“You have a whole waistband full of weapons,” Arianna told WLNE. “You could’ve shot the dogs individually, you could have tased them, you could’ve done anything other than just get back in your car and lock the doors.”

Arianna’s dog, a 8-month-old Yorkie mix, escaped from Silva during the attack and was found injured in a nearby yard. The dog later died from its injuries, according to AJC.

The good Samaritan was also bitten in the attack but only suffered a minor injury.

Police told WLNE that the incident is currently under investigation.

Arianna started the GoFundMe page to raise money for her mom, who will not be able to return to work for weeks, she said. So far, she has raised over $4,800 of her $20,000 goal.