'I think I'm going to die': Man, 62, tells of horrifying moment he was mauled so savagely by pit bulls after owner told them to attack that a priest offered him last rites
- WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT
- Cynthia Oliver, 55, has been charged with assault and reckless endangerment after allegedly ordering the animals to attack
- Police said she let her two pit bulls off their leash after arguing with Francesco Bove outside her apartment in the Bronx
- Rev. Jonathan Morris of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in the Bronx offered Bove his last rights but insisted he fight on as hard as possible
- Shocking footage filmed from an apartment above the street shows the man being dragged and mauled by the dogs
- Police said Bove suffered severe nerve damage to his arms and lacerations to his chest and even had an ear ripped off
- The two pit bulls have been taken to Animal Care and Control
A New York man who was mauled to within inches of his life last week after a woman allegedly ordered her two pit bulls to attack him has recalled the horrific moment he thought he was about to die.
Francesco Bove, a 62-year-old Italian immigrant, was walking to Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church on Friday when police say a woman ordered her blood thirsty beasts to attack in a mauling so savage that Bove's ear was severed before a priest offered to administer his last rights.
'I feel I'm dying,' Bove told the priest as he lay in a puddle of his own blood after the attack, which was caught on video from an apartment overhead.
Savage: The two dogs first started mauling 62-year-old Francesco Bove in the middle of the street, while another man, holding what appeared to be leashes, tried to intervene
Bove's son, Anthony Bove, recalled Saturday that those rites never came.
'The priest made him promise that he will fight until the end,' the younger Bove told CNN.
But, when Anthony Bove arrived to his ailing father's bedside, his fate still appeared grim.
'I got to the hospital and he was in pieces,' Anthony Bove recalled. By some miracle, however, the elder Bove walked away, though hardly unscathed.
Bove underwent five hours of surgery Friday night and was expected to stay in the hospital another week as doctors work to replace a nerve lost in his arm with one from his leg.
Francesco Bove, an artist who lives in Brooklyn, was on his way to the church to inspect some marble work he'd done there, when he says he was attacked.
'Those dogs, they were trained to fight,' Bove, who believed at first that the dogs were approaching him in a friendly manner, told the New York Daily News.
However, police said Cynthia Oliver, 55, -- who was outside her apartment building in the Bronx during the attack -- let her two dogs off their leash and ordered them to attack Bove.
Bove told his son that he exchanged no words with Oliver prior to the attack.
'Fight until the end': Reverend Jonathan Morris of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in the Bronx offered Bove his last rights but insisted he fight on as hard as possible
There for work: Bove was at the church on Friday morning in order to inspect some work he'd done on the interior marble
'He's in the street bleeding': Rene Norris witnessed the attack and took video from her apartment window, she also called for help
Over the course of the horrifying two minute mauling, both dogs worked in unison to drag Bove all the way across the road.
Bove first attempted to hold them off, before he succumbed to the attack and was dragged towards the curb.
Screams and shouting were heard in the footage, including a call for someone to 'get the water'.
One man, later identified as 46-year-old Emilio Ortiz, was seen trying to get the dogs off Bove by holding them back with their leashes, but soon he is knocked to the ground as well.
Neighbors rushed to help both men, whipping the dogs and blasting them with water.
Rene Norris, woman who filmed the attack, was heard speaking to emergency services.
'They're attacking a man,' she says. 'He's in the street bleeding. I'm upstairs watching this out [of] my window.'
Police said the attack happened after Oliver had an argument with Bove, a claim he disputes.
Mauling: Both the men are thrown to the ground in the melee, but the dogs target only the man in the yellow shirt, later ID'd as Francesco Bove
The attack continued, with the two dogs dragging the victim across the road and towards the sidewalk. However, a group of bystanders rally together to help protect Bove
Bove made it through with a shredded ear, 'two big chunks missing' from both his arms as well as multiple lacerations to his legs and chest and potential nerve damage.
And yet the artist, who owns a pit bull named Gina himself, is worried about the dogs that attacked him.
Anthony Bove said it was clear the dogs were hungry for his father's blood, saying he saw them licking it as it spilled into the street.
Oliver has been charged with eight counts of assault and two counts of reckless endangerment.
Her two pit bulls have been taken to Animal Care and Control.
After lying for several moments in a pool of his own blood, the victim then climbs back to his feet
Badly injured, he walks away as clothing and a pool of blood is left in the street
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