CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — On Nov. 24, Eliseo Torres was mowing his father’s yard near St. Peter's Street in Flour Bluff when he heard a neighbor screaming for help.
“I hopped the fence because it sounded like she was in some trouble. She was getting attacked by her dog,” Torres recalled.
What he saw was alarming. “She’s on the ground; she’s lying down on the ground. The dog was pulling her by her head. By her hair, and then it let go of her hair and then bit her head again,” he said.
Torres didn’t hesitate to act. “I got a hold of the dogs, got a hold of the leash. The dog jumped, I dodged it a couple of times, but eventually, it just pulled me down and grabbed my hand,” he explained.
Using some previous Jiu-Jitsu training, Torres got the dog under control. “The dog rolled over, so I put my arm underneath its throat, and my other arm on the back of its head and I just sprawled out on top of it and put my bodyweight on it. Then I waited until cops and EMTs came,” he said.
Though he was able to stop the attack, Torres sustained a severe injury to his dominant hand that required nine stitches. “The wound was so deep I could see a tendon in my finger,” Torres said.
Despite his fear, Torres said his priority was saving the neighbor. “Seeing the blood on her face, I knew I had to do something. I was honestly terrified to intervene. But I was standing and she wasn’t, and I knew if I kept letting the dog attack her, she wouldn’t be alive anymore.”
The dog, which had reportedly been set off by a stray cat, died after EMTs attempted to sedate it. Torres explained that he didn’t press charges against his father’s neighbor, who owned the dog. “That’s what triggered the event. It wasn’t due to negligence. The dog wasn’t walking free range. It’s unfortunate, but no reason to add a step further by pressing charges.”
Although Torres was forgiving, his injuries have temporarily left him out of work, but the Flour Bluff community has rallied to support him. “We do have a GoFundMe set up. It has done phenomenal. I truly thank everyone who has donated or shared. It means a lot coming from the bottom of my heart,” he said.
If you’d like to support Eliseo Torres, you can donate to his GoFundMe page.
For the latest local news updates, click here, or download the KRIS 6 News App.
