By CHESTER ROBARDS

Tribune Senior Reporter

crobards@tribunemedia.net

A CITY worker was attacked by a vicious pit bull as he left a party.

Dale Dean Jr said the animal was roaming free in the street off Skyline Drive as partygoers were walking to their vehicles.

Mr Dean said a friend warned him that there had been an incident with the dog earlier in the night.

But when he was walking to his vehicle he said he was confronted by the snarling animal.

“There were lots of cars going up and down the street, so I was walking on the outside of the cars,” said Mr Dean, who works at The Tribune.

“As soon as I walked around the car the dog came around. Then he attacked.”

Mr Dean said he thwarted the dog’s attack by hitting it in the head with a bottle he had been carrying with him, which drove the animal back.

However, he said it simply ‘shook it off’ and attacked again.

“The second time I had to punch it in the head,” he said. “Then it ran off.”

Mr Dean said police officers arrived shortly after the attack, which took place on Saturday night.

They encouraged him to go to the police station to file a report but would not do anything about the animal or the dog’s owner, said Mr Dean.

According to Mr Dean, one of the officers even exited the patrol car with his gun drawn after he and his friends pleaded for them to speak to the dog’s owner.

He said: “They were very unhelpful. We weren’t being rude or mean. We were trying to explain the situation to them, but they were talking to us like they were under the impression that we were causing a problem.

“We decided these dudes ain’t into helping us, so we just left.”

Mr Dean said before he left, neighbours told him the

pit bull had caused problems before and was the reason they did not let their own animals or children outside of their

yards.