Woman and son healing from dog attack, credit couple for survival

A Fall River mother and son are recuperating from serious injuries from a dog attack Friday night and the victim is crediting a Fall River couple and a Fall River police officer with helping her get through the ordeal.

According to the mother, Lisa Marie Carter, her 2 year old daughter and 4 year old son, who have been familiar with the dog for several months, asked to feed the dog some treats. The children threw the treats over to the dog. The dog owner’s mother then let the children in the yard to pet the dog. Her son went over to the dog when the owner’s mother called the dog over to “say hi” and the dog immediately grabbed her son’s cheek. Lisa then ran in trying to fight the dog off. Lisa’s daughter ran away and was not injured.

The Friday evening attack at Mount Hope Avenue and Bay Street went on for several minutes until a Fall River Police Officer shot and killed the pit bull during the attack. According to a witness, he shot the dog once and the dog wouldn’t let go so he shot a second time.

For Lisa, it is a traumatic experience that has left her with much pain and a lot of fear.

“I couldn’t believe it. I kept begging them to call 911 and get a knife to stop him. I was in total shock. I thought I was going to die in front of my kids. It is tough seeing people say that my son jumped the fence and I am a bad mom. I feel terrible enough, but I jumped in to save my son’s life. He never barked at us and my kids. We always bought him bones from the store. He would jump up on the fence to greet them.”

Lisa credits the officer and Marco and Kaylin Arruda with saving her life.

Kaylin was modest in her comments about her and her husband Marco’s role in the incident. “I passed by and I saw the son first and I turned around. We just happened to be at the right place at the right time. Definitely where God placed us. We were not heroes. The officer was the hero. We did what was right. That’s all.”

Lisa was let out of the hospital this afternoon with serious injuries to her head and face. She traveled to Hasbro Children’s Hospital to see her son who had facial reconstructive surgery today. Both her son and daughter are understandably shaken.

We contacted Fall River Police and were instructed that the police report on the incident would not be available until Monday.

If you are interested in helping Lisa and her family, you can contact Sherri Costa for more information.