A shocking pit bull attack left a South Carolina woman without arms or a voicebox after three dogs mauled her on a sidewalk in the town of Honea Path in the northwest corner of the state. Kyleen Waltman, 39, was fitted with a permanent trachea tube in her throat as bacteria from the dog’s mouths reached her esophagus and she now speaks using a voice-generator box.
Amy Wynne, Waltman’s sister, said that the dogs were eating her alive.
The dogs dragged her, they scalped her. Her skull was showing. They tore her left eyelid off. They tore her right cheek off, left a hole. They ate the skin off her inner thigh and ate the flesh off her arms and ripped them off, [Kyleen’s sister] said.
The injuries Waltman sustained are horrifying. Due to the severity of the injuries on her shoulders she cannot use prosthetic limbs as infection was found in the bone. She has been put on dialysis and fitted with a colostomy bag. The front and back of her head required her to receive almost 200 staples to close gaping wounds. Wynne added that her sister nearly died three times — in the ambulance, in the helicopter and on the operating table.
The mother of a 21-year-old son and 18- and 17-year-old daughters has been kept under sedation by doctors as she was upset by her condition when she awoke from a coma. She appears to know that she doesn’t have arms but, her sister added, By the grace of God, she has no brain damage…She’s a strong woman, stronger than I ever thought. She is a fighter.
South Carolina woman mauled by 3 dogs; arms amputated due to injuries, sister says—"a man found Waltman in a ditch still being attacked" https://t.co/zjIm3cNNlG pic.twitter.com/1aGi0CK6Ad
— DogsBite.org (@dogsbite) March 22, 2022
According to Lt. Jeffrey Hines, Abbeville County Sheriff investigator, a good Samaritan did try to help Waltman and was almost attacked himself when he got off his tractor to help her. Farmer Avery Presley fired a gun to scare the dogs and they eventually dispersed. In an interview with Greenville’s WYFF 4 Hines told the local outlet about the brutal attack:
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She had bites from the top of her head to the bottom of her feet, including her whole entire body… It was one of the more gruesome animal attacks that I’ve ever seen in my career. Police body camera footage showed Waltman being carried on a stretcher with her whole tricep removed and nothing but the bone on her left arm, Hines said.
This is not the first time the owner’s dogs have attacked someone.
Justin Minor, 36, owner of the three pit bulls, was cited in December when his dogs attacked a person on Christmas Eve. With this latest attack Minor is charged with three counts of owning dangerous animals attacking a human, a rabies violation and allowing dangerous animals off his property unrestrained. According to testimony at a preliminary hearing in March, Minor told police that once a dog tastes blood, that’s it, after his dogs killed his chickens.
The owner of a pack of dogs that brutally attacked a South Carolina woman last month appeared in court Thursday. https://t.co/rXGUu8HHZq
— ABC Columbia (@abc_columbia) April 29, 2022
In last month’s preliminary hearing Lt. Hines testified that Minor’s property was unfenced and his dogs were allowed to roam free. In an unfortunate twist Minor was about to have his dogs euthanized after they killed his chickens, but was persuaded by his wife not to do so as she believed the dogs could be trained. Minor has been released on a $15,000 bond and is awaiting trial.
Wynne has started a GoFundMe for her sister. She would also like to thank the good Samaritan whom she says saved Waltman’s life. Avery Presley saved her life. We have not met face to face yet but because of the investigation, she added.