- A mail carrier died after five dogs attacked her when her truck broke down, a Florida sheriff said.
- All the five dogs believed to have been involved in the attack will be destroyed, they said.
A Florida mail carrier died after she was attacked by five dogs when her truck broke down, the local sheriff's office said.
Five mixed-breed dogs are thought to have been involved in the attack in the Interlachen Lake Estates area, all of which will be destroyed, officials said.
Joe Wells, chief deputy of Putnam County Sheriff's Office, said in a news briefing Tuesday that police were dispatched to the scene just before 1 p.m. Sunday and arrived shortly after to find 61-year-old US Postal Service mail carrier Pamela Jane Rock "still in the street with heavy trauma."
First Coast News reported that Rock started her job at USPS in December, and that her vehicle broke down in a rural area of Putnam County.
Wells said that before deputies arrived at the scene, locals including the dogs' owners had tried to help Rock, and one individual shot a gun in the ground to try and disrupt the attack. He said the owners had removed the dogs from the victim and secured them on their property before police arrived.
Witnesses told deputies they heard a woman scream for help and when they went outside they saw her on the ground with five dogs attacking. Witnesses said several neighbors rushed to help by attempting to pull the dogs off and one neighbor shot a rifle into the ground to scare the animals.
Wells said Rock was given first aid, transferred to a medical center, and then moved to a trauma center in nearby Gainesville. During the journey she went into cardiac arrest but was revived, Wells said.
Rock died Monday evening, Wells said. Her niece told News4JAX that prior to her passing, medical staff amputated one of her arms, and her other limbs were in slings.
"She remained in critical condition until her death," the sheriff's office said in a press release.
Wells said the dogs attacked Rock after escaping through a fence. He added that there had been four responses to the neighborhood for animal-related calls over the past three years, including at least two related to the same address but "not confirmed" to be the same dogs.
"The animals are secure ... and they will be euthanized," Wells said.
Wells said the investigation was "very active" and that police were speaking to the state attorney's office regarding a possible criminal case. News4JAX reported that officials from both USPS and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration had attended the scene.
A USPS spokesperson said the agency was "deeply saddened at the loss of our employee" and that the safety of its staff was "of paramount concern."
Employees are provided with "ongoing dog bite awareness training," including being trained to use their mail satchel like a shield and carrying pepper spray, they said.
"If a loose dog is known to be on the carrier's delivery route, the address can be programmed into their delivery scanner, and an alert will pop up when they approach that area to warn them," the spokesperson said.
"Unfortunately attacks such as this provide the Postal Service an opportunity to remind dog owners that it is their responsibility to restrain their pet in order to avoid attacks against our employees while they are in performance of their duties," the spokesperson said.