GREENVILLE, S.C. — Authorities say a 52-year-old woman in South Carolina has died after her dogs became aggressive and attacked her while she was wrestling with them.
Lt. Ryan Flood, Greenville County Sheriff's Office spokesman, told WSOC a neighbor saw Nancy Cherryl Burgess-Dismuke being attacked around 1 p.m. Thursday and called 911. Another neighbor was able to get Burgess-Dismuke away from the dogs, but she had severe injuries.
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"It went from looking like they were really playing to them really eating her alive," neighbor Amber Greer, who called 911, told The Greenville News.
Greer told WYFF she heard Burgess-Dismuke screaming, "Help! Somebody help me. They're attacking me."
Neighbor Denzel Whiteside said he often saw Burgess-Dismuke playing with her dogs outside, putting her arm in their mouths. He graphically described the attack to The Greenville News.
Whiteside said he grabbed an ax and his roommate, William Long, grabbed a drive shaft beside a vehicle when the dogs attacked.. They began hitting the dogs until they let go of her.
“When they finally got the dogs off of her, and finally got them to go, she threw her body over the fence,” Greer said. “She didn’t jump; she threw her body like you never seen before. They were eating her.”
"She was already so far gone," Whiteside told The Greenville News. "One arm was already bit completely off, the other arm was barely hanging on by a piece of meat. It was the longest 10 minutes of my life."
The Greenville County Coroner’s Office said Nancy Cherryl Burgess-Dismuke died at the hospital at about 10 p.m., nine hours after the attack.
Flood said in a statement the dogs appear to be boxer mixes and were secured by Greenville County Animal Control.
Greenville County Coroner Parks Evans said Burgess-Dismuke had several bites to her upper body and lost a large amount of blood.
Bob Mihalic, a spokesman for Greenville County, said the dogs were scheduled to be euthanized Friday.