Officer and neighbors save 12-year-old girl from dog attack
MICHIGAN CITY, Indiana -- A 12-year-old girl's amazing recovery after she was mauled by a 140-pound dog in northwest Indiana is all due to a police officer and a group of neighbors who sprang into action to save her life.
Neighbors did everything they could to save Winter Morgan. One of them used a bicycle to fight off the dog.
"It was pretty bad," Marissa Goodman, the mother of one of Morgan's friends, said. "I thought she wasn't going to make it."
Goodman said that her daughter and Morgan were walking to school through some backyards the morning of Friday, Nov. 10, when Winter was attacked by a giant bullmastiff that had somehow gotten loose.
"The dog wouldn't let go no matter what I did, and I had to hit him with a bike to get him off her," Goodman said.
Goodman was able to get Morgan and her daughter into a neighbor's house, but the dog followed them.
"I got her up and put her coat around her. The dog came in the house behind her and continued to bite her," she said.
Goodman said she ran for help and Officer Scott Combs, who saw what was happening, jumped into action. He was able to get the dog contained and used his emergency training to treat Morgan at the scene.
"By the time I came back the officer had got him and secluded him in the house," Goodman said.
The fate of the dog is currently unclear. It was being held in quarantine and will likely be put to sleep.
Morgan is recovering at a hospital in Indianapolis. She was airlifted there Friday after the attack. Michigan City police said after three surgeries she's going to be okay.
