Dogs Attack, Kill Man In Wheelchair

Two dogs killed a 75-year-old man in a wheelchair and his small dog and attacked two other people who tried to come to his rescue, authorities said.

“It was an unprovoked attack,” said Lt. Bob Stewart of the Yakima Fire Department. “The two dogs were loose in the neighborhood.”

The dead man was identified as Walter Feser by the Yakima County sheriff’s office.

Feser, bitten on the arms, torso and legs, was taken to Providence Yakima Medical Center and then transferred to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, where he died, a nursing supervisor said.

One of the people who tried to come to Feser’s aid, Herman Miller, 70, was bitten on the right upper arm and torso and taken to Yakima Valley Memorial Hospital.

The attack occurred about 3 p.m. Friday. Feser was in his wheelchair in his back yard with his small dog when two dogs described as pit-bull types ran onto the property.

The dogs killed Feser’s pet and then turned on him, the sheriff’s office said.

Stewart said Feser was able to call for assistance with a “lifeline” signaling device.

Animal control officers caught the dogs and quarantined them.

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