ST. CLAIR — Lacey Vance, the victim of a July 18 pit bull attack at her St. Clair Avenue residence is making a recovery from her injuries sustained when attacked by her dog.

According to a police report from the St. Clair Township Police Department, officers dispatched to the scene were informed by dispatch that the person calling to report the attack, that Vance was screaming for help and stopped. The caller believed the dog might have had Vance by the throat.

The officers arrived at Vance’s residence to find her lying on the ground with large amounts of blood around her and several people trying to provide aid to her.

Vance’s neighbor Shaun Garretson — credited by Lt. Randy Schneider of the Calcutta Volunteer Fire Department (CVFD) for saving the bite victim’s life –told officers initially he thought Vance might have been arguing with somebody when he heard her screaming, But he came around the side of the house and saw the dog “violently” attacking her.

According to the police report, Garretson told officers he started to kick the dog to get it off Vance, but the dog went right back to attacking Vance.

Garretson then went into his house to get a firearm told officers: “There was no doubt in his mind, that the dog was going to kill Vance.”

After retrieving the firearm, Garretson said he told everybody to stand back from the scene and once he had a clear shot he took it.

Garretson told officers that for some reason the dog came off Vance and stared at him and that is when he took the shot. The dog walked off and he went over and put it down.

Once the dog was down, bystanders began assisting Vance until officers arrived.

Due to the severity of the injuries to her legs, officers applied tourniquets to both her legs and an officer from East Liverpool Police Department applied one to her right arm to help stop the bleeding.

Vance suffered bite and claw injuries to all four of her limbs.

Due to the injuries being life-threatening officers called for a life flight which transported her to St. Elizabeth Main Hospital.

According to Schneider, this is not the first time the dog has been aggressive. The dog had previously exhibited aggressive behavior toward Vance’s ex-boyfriend.

Schneider noted that dispatch was requested to have someone come out from the Columbiana County Dog Warden’s office to deal with the dog and dispatch told them no one was coming.

The Calcutta Volunteer Fire Dept. –initially called out to hose the blood from the street –reached out to Columbiana County Prosecutor Vito Abruzzino and the Columbiana County Health Department to find out what to do with the dog.

Since the St. Clair Police Dept. had no way to transport the dog, according to Schneider, the fire department was asked to transport the dog to the Columbiana County Morgue for it to be sent out for testing of rabies or any other diseases.

Schneider believes Vance is now be recovering at home.

Information in this article has been obtained from a police report provided by St. Clair Township Police Department and Lt. Randy Schneider, Calcutta Volunteer Fire Department. Calls to the police department for additional information were not returned.

kgarabrandt@mojonews.com