A woman suffered life-threatening injuries in an attack by a dog Tuesday on Larkin Street in the Tenderloin, according to police.
Officers responded to Larkin between Eddy and Turk streets at about 9:20 a.m. and separated the woman from the dog and provided aid before medics arrived and took the victim to a hospital.
San Francisco Animal Care & Control officers were called to the scene around 9:30 a.m. according to a spokesperson. A police spokesperson said an officer used a catchpole to restrain the off-leash dog. After that, the dog laid down and “became unresponsive while being restrained on scene,” the SFPD said.
Police officers did not find the dog’s owner.
The dog’s remains are at the agency’s facility on Bryant Street, an animal control spokesperson said.
The unidentified patient was in serious condition at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, a spokesperson said.
James Richmond, who was waiting for a bus, said the woman, who was with a girl, was “mauled” by a brown pit bull that was not on a leash. There were injuries to her neck, chest, and hands, he said.
A UPS driver tried to help the woman, Richmond said.
“At the end of the day, that could have been avoided if the dog had a leash,” he said.
Blood stains and discarded bandages were seen in the street.
Video footage of the aftermath seen by The Standard shows a dog on its stomach on the sidewalk, held in place by an official using a pole that had a loop around the animal.
An employee at the Catrachita Yucateca restaurant claimed a police officer told her the dog had previously attacked someone else.
The SFPD is leading an investigation.