Elderly man attacked by a dog

An elderly man suffers serious injuries after being attacked by a dog on Monday.

Seventy-seven year-old John Castle was at Memorial Park on one of his daily walks. But a scary incident with a Pit Bull is changing his normally active lifestyle.

“There’s no doubt in my mind, when I looked in that dog’s eyes, he wanted to kill me,” he said. “He pulled my leg out from under me which threw me to the ground and then he lunged for my throat.”

Castle says he raised his arm for cover, and the dog tore off part of his hand. He had to have surgery and doctors tell him it’ll be a month or two before he can use it again.

Castle remembers the dog’s owner jumping on top of it to stop the attack.

“I hollered to him hold him, hold him, hold him. because if he didn’t hold him, the dog would’ve killed me.”

Today, with the help of his wife, he’s recovering. But he can’t do his usual activities, like writing, walking and working out. And he says he needs exercise in his rehabilitation for his stage four cancer.

“To have my daily walks taken from me is just terrible,” he said.

Castle says he still has nightmares from what he calls the most terrifying experience of his life. But he says it could’ve been worse.

“I’m just so thankful I didn’t have one of my grandsons with me, because he wouldn’t have had a chance,” he said. “I can bear this, that, I couldn’t bear.”

The Pikes Peak Humane Society says there is an active investigation underway, but they’re still looking for the owner and dog.