Man, 61, mauled by dog

Monday, September 17, 2007

A Newbern man is in a Memphis hospital today after he was mauled by a pit bull Saturday morning.

Coy Rushing, 61, is at The Regional Medical Center in Memphis with severe arm lacerations from bites suffered from a pit bull. According to Newbern police captain Jim Richards, Rushing had knocked on the door of Tim Cummings's residence at 532 E. Johnson St. to inquire about work Cummings wanted Rushing to do.

"Apparently, when the door opened a pit bull came running up to him and attacked," said Richards.

Cummings was not at home at the time, said Richard, but people he termed "house sitters" were.

Rushing, a diabetic, was able to get into his parked car. His wife, who was in the car, drove to the police station. A medical helicopter landed behind the railroad depot and Rushing was transported to Jackson-Madison County General Hospital and then to Memphis.

The pit bull was seized and taken to the Dyer County Humane Society shelter.

The dog is described as a large white and black male pit bill and "quite aggressive," said shelter director Dr. Carol?Feather.

A notice was placed on the pit bull's shelter cage warning not to enter the run to feed the dog.

No charges have been filed, said Richards, though the case remains open.

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first of all my prayers are with mr .rushing . but i know the dog,that is in question . he has always been a very loving dog.he has played with my dog alot and never has hurt anyone .but it also states that the cummings were not at home .something must of happened to the animal by the ones whom it was left to take care of him .the dog (buddy) is a very good dog .so i myself would have second thoughts about who is the blame .....

besides everyone knew that tim cummings and his family was out of town for 2 weeks. this is my opinion

thank you

-- Posted by deege on Mon, Sep 17, 2007, at 5:37 PM
Well how many times are we gonna here this type of comment. "A very loving dog never hurt anyone". People wake up, this is a Pit Bull the statistics are against this breed. How many more people are gonna be mauled by Pits & Rots before our elected officals do something?

-- Posted by dbaty on Mon, Sep 17, 2007, at 8:07 PM
first i'd like to say that mr rushing is in my prayers.i'd also like to say people need to be educated on animals.i'm an avid animal lover.i have had many different sized dogs.i dont want an elected offical telling me what kind of dog i can and cant have.dogs in general are territorial.which would explain why the dog attacked.if someone broke in my house and my dog doesnt know them they would probably get bit or even attacked.she has never bitten any one.she protects me and my family.she also is very gentle though.

-- Posted by gumpsgirl on Tue, Sep 18, 2007, at 10:13 PM
well its like this dogs have the intentions to protect thier loved ones .just like a parent protects thier child ,the only reason some animals turn is because people treatpits

bad or try to make fighters out of them .simple fact is pits have feelings too.but who gives people the right to tell people what kind of animal to have .they are here to be loved just like you!

-- Posted by deege on Thu, Sep 20, 2007, at 11:40 PM

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