Horrifying moment a man, 62, is left in a pool of his own blood and with a severed ear after 'woman ordered her two pit bulls to attack him after argument'

  • WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT 
  • Cynthia Oliver, 52, has been charged with assault and reckless endangerment
  • Police said she let her two pit bulls off their leash after arguing with the man outside her apartment in New York's Bronx neighborhood 
  • Shocking footage filmed from an apartment above the street shows the man being dragged and mauled by the dogs
  • Neighbors can be seen rushing to try and pull the pit bulls off of him
  • Police said the man also suffered severe nerve damage to his arms and lacerations to his chest    

By Anneta Konstantinides For Dailymail.com and Corey Charlton for MailOnline

Published: | Updated:

This is the horrifying moment a 62-year-old New York man was left in a pool of his own blood with a severed ear after a woman allegedly ordered her two pit bulls to attack him. 

Police said Cynthia Oliver, 55, was outside her apartment building in the Bronx when she let her two dogs off their leash and set them on Francesco Bove.

Lasting nearly two minutes, the gruesome mauling that saw both dogs dragging Bove across the road was captured on video by a woman living in an apartment above the road.

WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT 

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

The two dogs first start mauling the man in the middle of the street, while another, holding what appear to be leashes, tries to intervene

Bove, wearing a yellow shirt, can be seen lying on the ground in the footage while the two white dogs circle and bite at him.

Initially attempting to hold them off, he soon succumbs to the attack is dragged towards the curb. 

Screams and shouting can heard heard in the footage, including a call for someone to 'get the water'.

One man, later identified as 46-year-old Emilio Ortiz, is seen trying to get the dogs off the man 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, according to the New York Daily News.  

The woman filming the attack can be 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. 

Bove said he was walking into Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church when the dogs managed to get off their leash and pounced on him, he told the New York Daily News. 

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

Both the men are thrown to the ground in the melee, but the dogs target only the man in the yellow shirt

The attack continues, with the two dogs dragging the victim across the road and towards the kerb
However, a group of bystanders rally together to help protect the man

The attack continues, with the two dogs dragging the victim across the road and towards the sidewalk. However, a group of bystanders rally together to help protect the man

The attack was so brutal even the priest came running out of the church to read Bove his last rites because it 'looked like he was going to die,' Bove's son Anthony told the paper. 

'But the father said he had to promise to fight through it.' 

Bove came through with his promise, but was left 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 himself, is worried about the dogs that attacked him. 

Bove said he had never met and didn't interact with Oliver, whose apartment is next to the church. 

'Those dogs, they were trained to fight,' he said. 

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

After lying for several moments in a pool of his own blood, the victim then climbs back to his feet

Badly injured, he stumbles away as clothing and a pool of blood is left in the street - he was then taken to hospital where he underwent surgery 

Badly injured, he walks away as clothing and a pool of blood is left in the street

 

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